E.C. Marchant, Commentary on Thucydides Book 1

24. γάρ implies ‘otherwise we should blame them.’

25. τὰ ἴδια ἐξ ἴσου νέμοντας—while attending to their own interests as much as others do. τὰ ἴδια is the interests of Sparta in contrast with τὰ κοινά, the common interests of the confederates. ἐξ ἴσου=with as much care as others of the confederates (esp. the Corinthians) attend to their own interests. νέμω is here not ‘assign,’ but ‘direct, manage,’ as often in trag.: how distinet the two senses are may be seen from

“ γῆς
τῆσδ᾽ ἧς ἐγὼ κράτη τε καὶ θρόνους νέμω
μήτ᾽ ἐσδέχεσθαι μήτε προσφωνεῖν τινα
... μήτε χερνιβὂς νέμειν.
”

Soph. OC 237-240

26. προσκοπεῖν—not to foresee, but to consider before others, in a higher degree, in contrast with ἐξ ἴσου and corresponding to the προ- in προτιμῶνται.

ἐν ἄλλοις—the Schol takes this as neut., and so many edd., ‘in other respects’ or ‘on other occasions’: but some prefer the masc., and this is better, ‘among others,’ i.e. when the Lac. send representatives to a meeting in any allied city.

27. ἐκ πάντων—above all (masc,; some render ‘by all,’ which is less likely).

[2] 28. ἐνηλλάγησαν—only here in this sense, συνέμιξαν καὶ ὡμίλησαν (Schol.). Cities on the coast who have had commercial dealings with Athens are meant.

2. κατῳκημένους—Thuc., like Herod., uses this verb in mid. as well as in act.: but only the perf. and plup. in mid. For the accus, Kruger quotes Herod. 4.33 κατοικημένον τὴν ... νῆσον. ἐν πόρῳ —in the track of trade: this constn. is strange after τὴν μεσόγειαν and prob. τήν is meant to extend over μὴ ἐν πόρῳ (sc. γῆν).

4. τὴν κατακομιδήν—i e. for exportation; πάλιν qualifies ἀντίληψιν; cf. e.g. ἡ πάλιν κατάβασις vii. 44. τήν of course goes with both nouns.

8. ποτε with προελθεῖν.

11. βουλεύεσθαι depends on χρή.

[3] 13. ἀνδρῶν γὰρ σωφρόνων—in sense subord. to ἀγαθῶν δὲ κτλ.

ἐστιν, εἰ μὴ ἀδικοῖντο—instances of this idiom in Sophocles are given by Bayheld on Antig 666: Goodwin M.T. 555: Spratt on Thuc. iii 9. This opt. is esp. suited to such γνῶμαι because it puts the case in the most general way possible. Jebb on Soph. Antig. l.c. ὰλλ᾽ ὃν πόλις στήσειε, τοῦδε χρὴ κλύειν.

14. ἀδικουμένους=εἰ ἀδικοῖντο. The speaker impresses on the allies of the interior that they too are involved when those of the coast are wronged. The change of case (ἀδικουμένων might have been written) makes the partic. more emphatic.

15. εὖ δὲ παρασχόν—this clause added to ἀνδρῶν ἀγαθῶν rather than to σωφρόνων shows that the ἀνδρεία meant is not opposed to the σωφροσύνη.

16. καὶ μήτε ... ἐπαίρεσθαι—this clause gives the negative of ἐκ πολέμου πάλιν ξ. and μήτε ... ἁδικεῖσθαι that of ἀδικουμένους ... πολεμεῖν in chiastic form. Thuc. is fond of restating in a negative a point just made; while his style is brief, there is yet a tendency to redundaney. See Intr. p. xlvii. τῷ ήσύχῳ τῆς εἰρήνης is according to the constant habit of substituting the adj. neut. for subst. in giving the quality of a person or thing. The form ἡσύχιος (see crit. note) is rarer, and as τὸ ἤσυχον occurs in 6.18 and 34, not to be preferred. ήδόμενον is in the sing. as if τινα had preceded.

[4] 19. ὀκνῶν—sc. πολεμεῖν. Some regard εἰ ἠσυχάζοι as a gloss, but if it is tautological after ὀκνῶν so is δι᾽ ὅπερ ὀκνεῖ after διὰ τὴν ἡδονήν.

22. πλεονάζων—ἐπαιρόμενος (Croiset).

ἐντεθύμηται ... ἐπαιρόμενος—the constn. as with οἶδα. Why the θράσος is ἄπιστον is explained in what follows.

[5] 23. γνωσθέντα—planned.

24. τυχόντα—luckily finding the enemy more ill-advised have been brought to a successful issue. It is difficult to choose between τυχόντα and τυχόντων, chanced to be, agreeing with ἐναντίων, but in such a matter the authority of CG is to be preferred (the Schol. read τυχόντα): for the same reason ἅ is best omitted after πλείω.

26. ἐνθυμεῖται γὰρ κτλ.—lit. no man by his confidence forms plans in the same spirit (ὀμοῖα=ὀμοίως) as he carries them but, i.e. a man may be confident when he makes a plan: it does not follow that he does not carry it out in the same spirit. Reiske's ὀμοίᾳ, with the same degree of confidence, makes the eonstruetion easier, but is not certainly necessary. ἔργῳ goes so closely with ἐπεξέρχεται that τῇ πίστει just before in a different relation to its verb is not felt to be awkward. The security with which the notion is formed gives place to apprehension, and so ‘we are found wanting.’ Hence τὰ καλῶς βουλευθέντα miscarry.

3. ήμεῖς δέ—the application of the general statements in e. 120. 3.