Harold North Fowler, Commentary on Thucydides Book 5

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After the arrival of troops from Athens, the Argives are persuaded by their allies to break the truce. Accordingly their united forces besiege Orchomenus, in Arcadia, which surrenders to them.

τριακοσίων: Diod., xii. 79. 1, says two hundred.—Λάχης καὶ Νικόστρατος: are both freq. mentioned in the earlier course of the war (iii. 75. 15; 86. 2; 115. 7; iv. 53. 5; 119. 10).

ὅμως: is to be explained by assuming that a concessive sent., “although they were dissatisfied with the truce,” is understood. Cf. iii. 28. 13; 80. 4.

χρηματίσαι: cf. c. 5. 2; i. 87. 17.—πρὶν ἤ: as elsewhere in Thuc. πρὶν δή (iii. 29. 5; vii. 71. 26; Haase, followed by St., writes πρὶν δή here) or the simple πρίν (see on i. 51. 5) with the aor. indic. (Perhaps Thuc. wrote πρὶν οἱ Μαντινῆς.)

παρόντος: see App.

ταῦτα: see App.

καὶ γένοιντο, καὶ νῦν ἅπτεσθαι χρῆναι: καί is used before γένοιντο, as if some similar const. (as καὶ νῦν ἔτι μένοιεν) were to follow (see on iii. 67. 24), instead of the inf. The present duty of the Argives is emphasized by νῦν as opp. to the past time expressed by γένοιντο.

σφεῖς : is nom. referring to the subj. of the main verb. G. 138, N. 8; H. 940 b.

πείσαντες...ἐχώρουν πάντες : the subj. is at first only the Athenians (πείσαντες can refer only to them), but is enlarged until it includes πάντες πλὴν Ἀργείων. On similar changes of subj. (though usually contracting rather than expanding its content), see on i. 18. 21; 49. 14, and c. 64. 12. —ἐκ τῶν λόγων: cf. vii. 48. 23, ἐκ τούτων αὐτοὺς πείσεσθαι, and viii. 47. 5, πεῖσαι δ̓ ἂν ἐνόμιζε μάλιστα ἐκ τοῦ τοιούτου.

τὸν Ἀρκαδικόν : to distinguish it from the Βοιώτιος of iii. 87. 11.

ὅμως: const. with ὑπελείποντο.—καὶ πεισθέντες: “although the speech of the Athenians (i.e. of Alcibiades) had not failed to convince them.”

προσκαθεζόμενοι: const. with acc. also in i. 26. 19; 61. 8.

πάντες: here the Argives also are included.

προσγενέσθαι σφίσι: cf. c. 32. 10.

καὶ ὅμηροι αὐτόθι: the inorganic connexion of these words with the preceding βουλόμενοι ἄλλως τε προσγενέσθαι σφίσι makes them only more prominent: “and besides, there were,” etc.

κείμενοι: i.e. κατακείμενοι, as pf, pass. partic. of κατέθεντο, 23. Cf. vi. 61. 16, ὁμήρους τοὺς ἐν ταῖς νήσοις κειμένους.

καὶ...μὴ προαπόλωνται : is, like τήν τε τοῦ τείχους ἀσθένειαν καὶ τοῦ στρατοῦ τὸ πλῆθος, obj. of δείσαντες. καί introduces μὴ ἀπόλωνται; the explanatory ὡς οὐδεὶς αὐτοῖς ἐβοήθει is, then, a parenthesis.—ξυνέβησαν ὥστε: cf. iv. 46. 8.

Μαντινεῦσι: the Mantineans, as the most powerful of the Arcadian allies, are given the charge of these Arcadian hostages.