E.C. Marchant, Commentary on Thucydides Book 1

[2] 10. τοῦ Ἑλληνικοῦ—about the Greeks, but in sense this is object of δουλώσειν.

12. πεῖραν διδούς—so πεῖραν λαμβάνω.

13. ἦν γὰρ ... δηλώσας καὶ ... ἄξιος—the aor. partic. with ἧν is here joined to an adj. with ἦν: the consin. is nunsual, and some edd. place βεβαιότατα ... δηλώσας between commas, taking καί as emphasising διαφερόντως τι. Transl. ‘Them. was in fact one who showed most convincingly natural powers, and he was beyond all others worthy of the very highest admiration in this respect.’ ἐς αὐτό refers to φύσεως ἰσχύν: διαφερόντως τι belongs to θαυμάσαι: for μᾶλλον ἑτέρου cf. c. 84. 2 ἧσσον ἑτέρων.

[3] 14. φύσεως ἰσχύν—Thuc. evidently holds with the old view, as against the sophists, that φύσις is superior to μάθησις.

15. ἐς αὐτό —ἐς τὸ ξυνετὸν φαίνεσθαι.

16. οὔτε προμαθὼν ... οὔτ᾽ ἐπιμαθών—not aiding it (τὴν ξύνεσιν) by any knowledge acquired before or after, i.e. either by learning or by experience. (What time is alluded to in the προ- and ἐπι-? Some say his entry into public life, others, much better, the time when he gave any advice derived from this ξύνεσις—but interpret, ‘his opinion was not based on previous knowledge, nor, after giving it, had he to modify it because he found he was wrong.’ Neither verb occurs elsewhere in Thuc. Croiset sees an allusion to Prometheus and Epimetheus.)

18. δι᾽ ἐλαχίστης βουλῆς—with the least consideration.

19. ἐπὶ πλεῖστον τοῦ γενησομένου—those edd. who connect these words understand to the remotest future, so that ἐπὶ πλεῖστον refers to time: the objection lies in the sing. τοῦ γενησομένου after the plur. μελλόντων, and so some think it spurious, others join τοῦ γενησομένου to τῶν μελλόντων, which is very forced. But all difficulty disappears if we understand by τὸ γενησόμενον the particular event that was going to happen and take ἐπὶ πλεῖστον of extent, as in ἐπὶ πλεῖστον ἀνθρώπων in c. 1. 2, so that the whole phrase emphasises only the extraordinary accuracy of his εἰκασία: ‘his forecasts of the future were the best, in every event proving more accurate than those of others.’ ἐπὶ π. τοῦ γεν. is lit. so as to cover the greatest part (i.e. a greater part than any one else) of just that which was coming.

20 μετὰ χεῖρας ἔχοι—so Aeschin. 1.70 ἂ νυνὶ μετὰ χ. ἔχετε: =μεταχειρίζοιτο.

21. ἐξηγήσασθαι—expound his views on it.

ὧν δ᾽ ἄπειρος εἴη in contrast with ἃ μετὰ χεῖρας ἔχοι=‘that which he took no personal share in.’

22. οὐκ ἀπήλλακτο—he did not fail to, ‘was not without the power’; in later prose we should have τοῦ.—Them. lived before the days of developed oratory.

23. τό τε ἄμεινον ἢ χεῖρον—the advantage or disadvantage of any proposed step.

24. τὸ ξύμπαν εἰπεῖν—parenthetical inf., τό belonging to ξύμπαν.

25. μελέτης δὲ βραχύτητι—with the shortest preparation, a second way in which he showed his power of hitting on the right thing in a minute. The two phiases are not really quite parallel.

[4] 28. φαρμάκῳ—the story was that be drank bull's blood: Thuc. evidently thinks it a foolish tale, Aristoph. Eq. 83.

4. ἄρτον ... οἷνον ... ὄψον—according to a Persian custom: cf. Plat. Alc. i. p. 123 B ‘he said (the person meant is perhaps Xenophon) he passed a district which the inhabitants called ζωνὴν τῆς βασιλέως γυναικός: and another called “the mirror” ... καὶ ὀνόματ᾽ ἔχειν ἑκάστους τῶν τόπων ἀπὸ ἑκάστου τῶν κόσμων.’ Lampsacns and Myus belonged to the Delian League, so Them. cannot have actually enjoyed their revenues.

[6] 8. οἱ προσήκοντες—Cleophantus, a son of Them., lived at Athens. In later times the grave of Them. was located at the entry to Piraeus.

21 προύλεγον ... μή—in the terms of an ultimatum it is not surprising to see μή where οὐ would be ordinarily used: προλέγω contains a meaning of advice or warning. For the Megarian decree and Aegina see c. 67.