Charles D. Morris, Commentary on Thucydides Book 1

ἔτι μᾶλλον ἢ πρότερον: the reference is to c. 8. 11, where a similar statement is made as to the time before the Trojan war. ἔτι is therefore significant, and not to be changed to τι or ἤδη, as Kr. proposes.

τὰ πολλά: adv. often. Cf. c. 78. 5; 122. 5; ii.11.17; 87. 26; iii.37.22.—τυραννίδες: the despotisms here spoken of differed in their origin from those of which that of Pisistratus was a type; as a government, legal in its origin, might be converted into a τυραννίς by an illegal and forcible extension of its powers. This is stated by Arist. Pol. viii.10.5, when, after describing the usual growth of despotisms (οἱ πλεῖστοι τῶν τυράννων γεγόνασιν ἐκ δημαγωγῶν), he says: αἱ δὲ πρὸ τούτων ἐκ τῶν βασιλέων παρεκβαινόντων τὰ πάτρια καὶ δεσποτικωτέρας ἀρχῆς ὀρεγομένων.

ἐπὶ ῥητοῖς γέρασι : with defined prerogatives; ἐπί with dat. of the condition and basis of established order. Cf. Arist. Pol. iii.14.14, ἡ περὶ τοὺς ἡρωϊκοὺς χρόνους [βασιλεία] . . . ἦν ἑκόντων μὲν ἐπί τισι δ̓ ὡρισμένοις: στρατηγὸς γὰρ ἦν καὶ δικαστὴς ὁ βασιλεύς, καὶ τῶν πρὸς τοὺς θεοὺς κύριος.

πατρικαὶ βασιλεῖαι : hereditary monarchies (cf. vii.69.12; viii.6.17, of ties of friendship, etc.), passing from father to son.—ἐξηρτύετο: of naval preparations; usually mid. Cf. c. 14. 4; 25. 23; 121. 7; ii.13.19; 85. 11, etc. Act. with ἐπίπλουν, ii.17.21.

ἀντείχοντο: applied themselves. For pl. following sing., cf. iii.72.8. Kühn. 359, 2.

πρῶτοι δὲ Κορίνθιοι κτἑ.: the view which Thuc. now gives of the development of Greek maritime power (to the end of c. 14) comprises the period from 700 to 500 B.C., including the advances made by the Corinthians, the Ionians, the tyrants in Sicily, and the Corcyraeans, to the development of the Athenian navy under Themistocles. See App.

τοῦ νῦν τρόπου: opp. to the παλαιὸς τρόπος of c. 10. 31. —μεταχειρίσαι: used only act. by Thuc. Cf. iv.18.14; vi.12.17; 16. 31; vii.87.2. Later chiefly mid.— 8. καὶ τριήρεις...ναυπηγηθῆναι : and it is said that Corinth was the first place in Greece where triremes were built. Part. gen. with a sup. adv. G. 168; H. 755 b; Kr. Spr. 47, 28, 8. This probably represents a further advance on the previous statement, πρῶτοι . . . τὰς ναῦς.

φαίνεται δὲ κτἑ.: since it was a Corinthian shipwright who constructed ships of war (ναῦς, probably not triremes; cf. c. 14. 4) for the Samians, we have a second indication of the early prominence of the Corinthians. The third is introduced by τε, 12. See on c. 2. 6.

μάλιστα: used with statements of quantity to imply that the account given is the best practicable approximation, though the reality may be either more or less.—τοῦδε τοῦ πολέμου: on the import of this expression, see Introd., p. 24. The two events dated must have occurred respectively in B.C. 704 and 664.

ὅτε: since the time when = ἐξ or ἀφ᾽ οὗ, as in c. 18. 9. So to express the terminus a quo we have ὡς in iv.90.14, and in v.20.4, where ἤ is perhaps to be omitted; ἐπειδή, iii.68.31 (cf. c. 6. 9); ἐπεί, Eur. Med. 26; Hipp. 34; I. T. 258. Kr. Dial. 69, 56, 2. In iii.29.9, ὅτε gives the terminus ad quem, till.—ἦλθε: with dat. Cf. c. 27. 1; 61. 1; 107. 27; iii.70.2; vi.46.12; vii.73.5; viii.96.1; Plat. Prot. 321 c.

παλαιτάτη: see on c. 1. 11.

γίγνεται: here and in 24 the pres. is not hist., but represents the vision of the historical inquirer.

ταύτῃ: the terminus a quo as ὅτε . . . ἦλθε in 12. For the dat. cf. iii.29.9; and Soph. O. T. 735, καὶ τίς χρόνος τοῖσδ̓ ἐστὶν οὑξεληλυθώς;

ἐστι : here and in 11 represents the result of a calculation. So ἦσαν in iii.29.9.

ἀεὶ δή ποτε: from the very earliest times. The indef. ποτε extends the notion of ἀεί over an unlimited past (cf. c. 47. 10; 60. 9; iv.103.11, etc.; Hdt. ix.26.5), and receives additional emphasis from δή, as in viii.73.26.— 17. τὰ πλείω: usually in comp. sense without the art., as in c. 3. 23. Cf. with this Soph. Ant. 313; Eur. Hipp. 471. Kr. Spr. 50, 4, 13. Commonly the phrase has a sup. meaning. Cf. c. 69. 27; 81. 8; ii.39.14; 89. 8; iii.37.26; 83. 8.

τῶν τε...ἔξω : appos. to τῶν Ἑλλήνων. See on c. 2. 24.— 19. παρ᾽ ἀλλήλους: see on c. 2. 5.— χρήμασί τε: with ἐπειδή τε, 21, of the successive stages of progress. See on c. 12. 10.

ἀφνειόν: cf. Hom. B 570. So Pind. Ol. XIII. 4 calls Corinth ὀλβία, and Hdt. iii.52.14, εὐδαίμων.— 22. ἔπλῳζον : poetic verb (cf. Hes. Op. 634); i.e. πλοϊμώτερα ἐγίγνετο, c. 8. 8.— τας ναῦς: i.e. those above mentioned. —καθῄρουν: sc. οἱ Κορίνθιοι, as the following words show.

ἀμφότερα: not now, as in 17, κατὰ γῆν τὰ πλείω, but on both elements, = κατὰ γῆν καὶ κατὰ θάλασσαν. Cf. c. 100. 4; 112. 11, etc.—δυνατὴν ἔσχον κτἑ.: the aor. sums up the results of their efforts, = ἡ πόλις αὐτῶν δυνατὴ ἐγένετο.

Ἴωσιν ὕστερον κτἑ.: cf. Hdt. i. 161 ff. This statement refers chiefly to Miletus and Chios, since Samos and Phocaea are specially mentioned afterwards. As Thuc. does not elsewhere date by the Persian kings, Köhler, Archae. d. Th. p. 7 (see App.) justly infers that he is here using Hdt. as his authority. The dates are, Cyrus, B.C. 559-529; Cambyses, B.C. 529-522.

υἱέος: this form of the gen. also c. 137. 2; ii.100.14; iii.26.8; but υἱοῦ, v.16.24. The nom. and acc. sing. are of the second decl. only, as c. 111. 1; ii.29.24; 67. 15, etc., and the pl. cases, acc. and gen., only of the third, as c. 20. 7; vi.30.12.

ἐκράτησαν: the aor. is not ingressive (cf. c. 3. 8; 4. 2) but complexive, they maintained their power.

τυραννῶν: not τυ- ραννήσας, for his despotism began under Cyrus, about B.C. 532, and he was killed in the year of Cambyses's death, B.C. 522. Cf. Hdt. iii. 120 ff.

Ῥήνειαν κτἑ.: cf. iii.104.8.

Φωκαῆς τε...ναυμαχοῦντες : Massalia (Marseilles) was founded by the Phocaeans, B.C. 600. The city of Phocaea was itself taken by Harpagus, the Persian commander, cir. B.C. 543, at which time half the population abandoned the place, and sailing westward to Corsica, fought a successful but ruinous battle against the combined fleets of the Carthaginians and the Tyrrhenians (Hdt. i. 166). Thuc. is probably not referring to this battle, but to repeated successes (ἐνίκων) over the Carthaginians, who would be likely to resist any attempt to found a settlement on the Gallic coast. Antiochus of Syracuse may have been his authority for this statement. Even if the dates did not conflict, the tense ἐνίκων, which denotes the victory and its enduring results (cf. c. 49. 24; 100. 3; 116. 10; iii.108.10, etc.) could hardly be used to denote the Καδμείη νίκη of the Phocaeans. See App.