Harold North Fowler, Commentary on Thucydides Book 5

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Next day Nicias persuades the Athenians to send ambassadors, of which he himself is one, to Sparta. The Spartans refuse to give up their alliance with the Boeotians; consequently the Athenians conclude the alliance with Argos.

ὑστεραίᾳ: Thuc. uses this word most freq. to denote the following day (though ἡμέρᾳ is never expressed), but sometimes, as here, with other substs. to denote what happened on the following day. See on i. 44. 4.— τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων αὐτῶν ἠπατημένων: see App.

περὶ τοῦ μὴ...ὀμολογῆσαι ἥκειν : in regard to the announcement that they had not come with full powers. Const. with both ἠπατημένων and ἐξηπατημένος.

ἐπισχόντας : in meaning as in c. 32. 24 (delay, wait); but here, as in c. 63. 13 and ii. 76. 4, const. with the acc.—τὰ πρὸς Ἀργείους: as in c. 39. 16, τὰ ἐς Βοιωτούς. τὴν ξυμμαχίαν τῶν Ἀργείων, Schol.

ἐν...καλῷ : ἐν (as in the conj. ἐν ᾧ, see on ii. 1. 2) denotes the circumstances, the state of things. “He urged them to put off the war, under circumstances (i.e. since the circumstances were) favourable for them, but humiliating for the Lacedaemonians.” The words καλόν and ἀπρεπές are justified by the fact that Athens could very well remain in her present condition, whereas Sparta must try to improve hers by means of war. ἐν καλῷ as in c. 59. 17; 60. 11. Cf. i. 33. 1.

ὡς ἐπὶ πλεῖστον: as long as possible. See on i. 82. 20.—διασώσασθαι τὴν εὐπραγίαν: as in iii. 39. 26, τὴν εὐδαιμονίαν, and c. 16. 11, τὴν εὐτυχίαν; mid., preserve their own good fortune.

ὅτι τάχιστα: const. with διακινδυνεῦσαι.—εὕρημα: a piece of good luck. So in Hdt.vii. 155. 8; Xen. Anab. ii. 3. 18; vii. 3. 13; and ἕρμαιον, Plat. Phaedo, 107 c; Sympos. 217 a.

ἔπεισέ τε: expresses the result: “and he succeeded in persuading them.”

ὀρθόν: as in c. 42. 17. Const. with Πάνακτον only.

ἀνεῖναι: give up, as in c. 31. 15, τὴν ἐπιτροπήν; i. 75. 13, τὴν ἀρχήν.—ἢν μὴ...ἐσίωσι: cf. c. 42. § 2.

καθάπερ εἴρητο: on the lack of agreement between this passage and c. 23. § 1, see App. on c. 39. 12.

ὅτι καὶ σφεῖς...ἄν...πεποιῆσθαι : instead of ἐπεποίηντο, as we should expect. Kr. Spr. 55, 4, N. 10, gives examples of a similar confusion of two consts. in Xen. All these cases seem to be the result of carelessness in the author.

ὡς παρεῖναι αὐτούς: sc. τοὺς Ἀργείους. Here the inf. of the indir. disc. is retained in the dependent clause. Cf. c. 45. 9. GMT. 92, 2, N. 3 a; H. 947. ὡς corresponds to the causal cum: “for this was just the purpose for which they had come.”

πάντα: repeats εἴ τι ἄλλο.— τοὺς περὶ τὸν Νικίαν πρέσβεις: i.e. Νικίαν καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους πρέσβεις. So also in 25 and vi. 96. 14. G. 141, N. 3; H. 666 c.

Βοιωτοῖς μὴ ἐσιοῦσιν: ‘dat. of interest,’ loosely connected with the verb (ἀνήσουσι); not unlike the gen. abs. in meaning. See on iv. 56. 1, and App. on iv. 10. 11. H. 771 a. ἐσιοῦσιν is the cond. partic., and so μή, not οὐ. Cf. 14.

ἐπικρατούντων: with inf. of result, as in vi. 74. 8, ἐπεκράτουν μὴ δέχεσθαι.

τὸν ἔφορον : cf. c. 36. 7. The art. is repeated with the explanatory designation, as in ii. 67. 14, τὸν Σάδοκον τὸν γεγενημένον Ἀθηναῖον.— τῆς αὐτῆς γνώμης ἦσαν: “were of the same political party.” Cf. i. 113. 10.

ἀνενεώσαντο: this was to be done annually, acc. to the provision of the treaty. Cf. c. 18. 54. Since the conclusion of the treaty in the spring of 421 B.C. a year had passed. See on c. 40. 1.—ἐφοβεῖτο γάρ: gives a reason for δεομένου Νικίου. By the renewal of the oaths Nicias hoped at least to prove that the peace which he had been so prominent in arranging was still effective.—μή...ἀπέλθῃ καὶ διαβληθῇ : “that his mission would be absolutely unsuccessful (which would be painful enough for him), and he would be exposed to the attacks of his enemies in addition.” The sense would be more exactly expressed by μή, ἢν πάντα ἀτελῆ ἔχων ἀπέλθῃ, καὶ διαβληθῇ, taking καί in a pregnant sense.

δἰ ὀργῆς εἶχον: abs. Cf. διὰ φυλακῆς (ii. 81. 16), ἐν φυλακῇ (iv. 14. 26), and ἐν ὀρρωδίᾳ (ii. 89. 3) with ἔχειν: “were in a state of angry excitement.”

παρόντες: refers to the presence of the envoys in Athens (see c. 44. 11 ff.), παραγαγόντος, 34, to their introduction into the assembly (see on c. 45. 15) where the treaty was concluded. The parenthe sis includes therefore only ἔτυχον . . . ξύμμαχοι, not παραγαγόντος Ἀλκιβιάδου, as Bekker and others have thought.