Edward S. Forster, Isocrates Cyprian Orations

οὐδέν: the masc. οὐδένα (see critical note) would be more natural, but this use of the neuter for masculine is not uncommon in Greek. Firstly, the neuter singular is used collectively, e.g. τὸ ἄλλο Ἑλληνικόν (= οἱ ἄλλοι Ἕλληνες) (Thuc. iv. 20), τὸ ἀνθρώπειον (= οἱ ἄνθρωποι) (ib. 61); secondly, the neuter plural is often used as equivalent to a masculine plural, e.g. τἄλλα (= τοὺς ἄλλους) (Aristoph. Ranae 809, Lysistr. 860), ἀγαθοὺς ἀνδριαντοποιοὺς καὶ τἄλλα τὰ τοιαῦτα (= τοὺς ἄλλους τοὺς τοιούτους) (Xen. Oec. vi. 13). Here τῶν ἐξ αὐτοῦ γεγονότων οὐδέν is perhaps rather more emphatic than οὐδένα would have been, as we might say in colloquial English, ‘nothing in the way of children’; cp. the common use of οὐδέν and μηδέν of persons, e.g. οὐδέν εἰμι (Soph. Phil. 951), τὸ μηδὲν ὄντας (Ajax 1275). See also note on N. C. 33 ἀμφότερα ταῦτα.

ἀλλὰ τὸν μὲν βασιλέα κτἑ: Schneider compares Harpocration p. 18. 4 οἱ μὲν υἱοὶ τοῦ βασιλέως καὶ οἱ ἀδελφοὶ καλοῦνται ἄνακτες (princes), αἱ δὲ ἀδελφαὶ καὶ γυναῖκες ἄνασσαι (princesses). Ἀριστοτέλης ἐν τῇ Κυπρίων πολιτείᾳ.

ὑπερβολαῖς: here ‘exaggeration’; cp. the English rhetorical figure of speech hyperbole; see note on ὑπερβολήν, § 1.

φύσιν: see note on § 49.