Charles D. Morris, Commentary on Thucydides Book 1

τοῦ βασιλείου : on the order, see on c. 1. 6.

ἀνεψιὸς ὤν: see on c. 94. 1.— ἐπετρόπευεν: has the acc. in Attic writers (Ar. Eq. 212; Plat. Rep. 519 b), the gen. in Hdt. i. 65.—ὑποψίας: grounds for suspicion, opp. to φανερὸν σημεῖον. For pl. of abstracts, see Kühn. 348, 3 c; Kr. Spr. 44, 3, 4.— 7. παρανομίᾳ: violation rather of custom than of law. So vi.15.15; 28. 13, of Alcibiades.—ζηλώσει: united to παρανομίᾳ by the single art. (see on c. 120. 10) as defining it; though in strictness τε after τῇ demands a second art.—ἴσος εἶναι τοῖς παροῦσι: to acquiesce in things as they were, the established arrangements. Cf. vi.16.18; viii.89.24. παροῦσι is neut., as in c. 123. 3.

τά τε ἄλλα: τε stands here as copulative conj. and also as correl. to the following καί. But Ullrich, Beitr., 1862, p. 34, inserts καί before τά. This, Stahl adopts, and B. approves. P. regards τε as only the copula.— αὐτοῦ: in him. Cf. c. 68. 7, τῶν λεγόντων.

ἀνεσκόπουν : of inquiry into the past. Cf. vii.42.24.

ἐξεδεδιῄτητο: in pf. and plpf. the double aug. probably without exception (cf. vii.77.10; Dem. XXI. 85), but not so consistently in aor.; διῄτησα and ἐδιῄτησα, διῃτήθην (vii.87.15) and ἐδιῃτήθην.

τῶν νομίμων : gen. depending on ἐξ εδεδιῄτητο, imitated by Dion. H. A. R. v. 74, μηδὲν ἐκδιαιτώμενος τῶν πατρίων.

τὸν τρίποδα : cf. Hdt. ix. 81, ὁ τρίπους ὁ χρύσεος, ὁ ἐπὶ τοῦ τρικαρήνου ὄφιος τοῦ χαλκέου ἐπεστεώς. The gold tripod was carried off by the Phocians in the sacred war (Pausan. x.13.5), but the bronze pillar of three intertwined snakes was removed by Constantine to Byzantium, and placed in the hippodrome, the modern Atmeidan. Gibbon, chap. 17, note 48. This remarkable monument, completely brought to light in 1856, contains the names of all the Greek states which took part in the Persian war. The ἐλεγεῖον (acc. to Pausan. iii.8.1, composed by Simonides) was probably on the tripod itself, while the Lacedaemonians ἐπέγραψαν (16) on the pillar. O. Frick, N. Jahrbb. Spplbd. 3, Heft 4, 1859; Hicks, Inscr. p. 11.

ἀπὸ τῶν Μήδων: short for ἐκ τῶν Μηδικῶν λαφύρων.

ἀκροθίνιον : pl. in Hdt. i. 86; 90; viii. 121; 122; sing. in Eur. Phoen. 282; Plut. Mar. 23; the choice part of the booty.—ἠξίωσεν ἐπιγράψασθαι: he presumed (an exaggeration of the meaning of c. 22. 9) to have inscribed; mid. as in c. 130. 8; 134. 23.

ἰδίᾳ: without authority of the state, opp. to δημοσίᾳ, as c. 128. 11; ii.65.6; iv.121.6.

ἐξεκόλαψαν: like the simple κολάπτειν applied to erasure from metal or from stone.

ξυγκαθελοῦσαι: Hdt. viii. 82, of the same fact says, ἐν τοῖσι τὸν βάρβαρον κατελοῦσι.

τοῦ μέντοι Παυσανίου : in opp. to his action; though the inscription could be erased, yet he was not himself free from guilt. The subj. of ἐδόκει is the before-mentioned action, τὸ ἐπιγράψασθαι ἰδίᾳ κτἑ., to which ἀδίκημα εἶναι is pred. We must therefore read καὶ τότ̓ for καὶ τοῦτ̓. See App.

ἐν τούτῳ: Schol., ἐν τῇ κατηγορίᾳ τοῦ Μηδισμοῦ.

παρόμοιον : see on c. 80. 8.—πραχθῆναι: with allusion to his secret intrigues.—διανοίᾳ: as in c. 130. 8.

ἐς...πράσσειν : see on c. 65. 12; 131. 7.

καὶ ἦν δὲ οὕτως: in this combination of particles (cf. ii.36.2; iv.24.5; vi.71.12; vii.56.10; viii.67.19) καί is not the copula, but even, here emphasizing the fact as opp. to conjecture, and δέ, now, epexegetic.— 23. τὸ πᾶν: his whole plan. Cf. c. 72. 6; 126. 26; v.30.6.

οὐδὲ...πιστεύσαντες : explains οὐδ᾽ ὥς, since so far the source of their knowledge has not been named.— 25. νεώτερόν τι ποιεῖν:=νεωτερίζειν, c. 58. 3. Cf. ii.6.7; iv.51.3.

ᾧπερ εἰώθασιν: sc. χρῆσθαι.

μὴ ταχεῖς εἶναι : not to be over-hasty; with inf. as in c. 118. 11.

ἀνδρὸς Σπαρτιάτου: of the Dorian stock.— 28. τι ἀνήκεστον: a euphemism for capital punishment. Cf. iii.39.40; iv.20.2.—πρίν γε δή: more forcible than πρὶν δή, c. 118. 13, with which accords the pres. γίγνεται. GMT. 67, 1; H. 924 a.

βασιλεῖ: dat. with ἐπιστολάς. Cf. c. 5. 6, τοῖς ἀσθενέσι τροφῆς.

ἐπιστολάς : of a single letter. Cf. viii.39.15.

Ἀργίλιος: from Argilos in Chalcidice.

πιστότατος: i.e. up to this time; fear for his own safety first changed him.—ἐκείνῳ: after αὐτοῦ on account of the change of case, to avoid the repetition of the same word. Cf. c. 138. 29; iv.29.17; v.30.22; vi.61.21; Plat. Prot. 310 d; Phaed. 60 d; 111 b.—μηνυτὴς γίγνεται: assumes the part of an informer, a stronger μηνύει. See on c. 35. 12. After this statement of the essential fact, the narrative returns in δείσας . . . ἀφίκετο to the motive of it; and since this suggested the mention of the immediate results, we have with a second finite verb (λύει τὰς ἐπιστολάς) a report of what was really antecedent in time. Cf. a similar violation of the order of time in c. 9. § 2.

κατὰ ἐνθύμησίν τινα: because he had observed with misgiving.

τι μεταγράψαι: to change something in the letter. But in iv.50.7 the mid. means ‘to translate.’

ἐν αἷς ὑπονοήσας τι κτἑ.: in which, as he had conjectured that some such special instruction was enjoined, he actually found himself set down for death. καί is to be referred rather to the whole following clause than to αὑτόν alone, though this is accentuated by its position and by the reference to earlier messengers.

ἐγγεγραμμένον: masc. in agreement with αὑτόν, for κτείνειν= interficiendum. Cf. παρέχω ἐμαυτὸν ἐρωτᾶν, praebeo me interrogandum. Kühn. 473, 7; Kr. Spr. 55, 3, 14, 20.