Charles D. Morris, Commentary on Thucydides Book 1

τῶν παλαιῶν: neut. Cf. c. 11. 16; 20. 1.—ἀσθένειαν: for omission of art., see on c. 1. 11. Cf. iii.58.15.— οὐχ ἥκιστα: = μάλιστα. Cf. c. 23. 16; 35. 7; 60. 8.

δοκεῖ δέ μοι κτἑ.: observe the irregularity of the const.; εἶχεν, 4, first causes δοκεῖ to be taken parenthetically; then the infs. εἶναι, 5, παρέχεσθαι, 7, καλεῖσθαι, 10, are under the influence of δοκεῖ, which must be taken pers. with ἡ ἐπίκλησις and with ἄλλα τε . . . τὸ Πελασγικόν, but impers. with καλεῖσθαι, as the acc. Ἕλληνας shows; and finally οὐ μέντοι . . . ἐκνικῆσαι, 11, is fully independent. See App.—οὐδέ πω: i.e. πρὸ τῶν Τρωικῶν.

καὶ πάνυ οὐδὲ...αὕτη : this appellation had not even any existence at all. For πάνυ οὐ, cf. Hdt. vii.12.3, πάγχυ εὕρισκέ οἱ οὐ πρῆγμα εἶναι. Plat. Prot. 338 e, ὁ Πρωταγόρας πάνυ μὲν οὖν οὐκ ἤθελεν. ἐπίκλησις, not the original name but the added designation. Cf. vii.68.11.

κατὰ ἔθνη: there being no distributive numerals in Greek, the want of them is supplied by κατά（ἀνά, εἰς) with acc., to represent any case. See Kühn. 181, note 3. Cf. other cases where a numeral with a prep. (εἰς, περί) is construed as a single word. Kühn. 351, 3; Kr. Spr. 60, 8, 1. Here κατὰ ἔθνη = singulae gentes gives the mode of action of ἄλλα . . . Πελασγικόν, which is subj. of δοκεῖ. παρέχεσθαι, as well as εἶναι and καλεῖσθαι, is inf. impf. GMT. 15, 3; H. 853a. After παρέχεσθαι supply τῇ χώρᾳ τῇ νῦν Ἑλλάδι καλουμένῃ.

τῶν παίδων : Aeolus, Dorus, and Xuthus, who was father of Ion.—ἰσχυσάντων: having become powerful. GMT. 19, N. 1; H. 841. Cf. c. 9. 21. This ingressive use is nearly confined to the first aor.— ἐπαγομένων: men inviting them in. The subj. is implied in τὰς ἄλλας πόλεις. See on c. 2. 9. GMT. 110, 1, N. 2; H. 972 a. And for the partic. impf., see on c. 2. 25. This verb is regularly used of the inviting of strangers into one's country. Cf. c. 104. 5; 114. 6; ii.2.12. Plat. Menex. 243 b, ὥστε τολμῆσαι . . . ἰδίᾳ τοῦτον πάλιν ἐπάγεσθαι, βάρβαρον ἐφ̓ Ἕλληνας.

καθ̓ ἑκάστους...ἐκνικῆσαι : μᾶλλον (of progressive increase, cf. c. 8. 11) belongs to καλεῖσθαι, and the subj. of ἐδύνατο is τὸ καλεῖσθαι Ἕλληνας. The clans (which had hitherto borne separate names) came one by one by reason of this intercourse more and more to be called Hellenes, though it was a good while before this tendency was able to win its way actually over the whole of them. Phthiotis in Thessaly is regarded as the earliest seat of Hellenic life and the startingpoint of the subsequent Hellenic states. Though Thuc. holds to the personal existence of Hellen and his sons, he practically treats them, in the modern way, as merely the personification of the various branches of the race.

τεκμηριοῖ: used by Thuc. alone of Att. writers. Cf. c. 9. 24; iii.104.38; in each case of Homer's evidence. The word is common in the writers of the κοινὴ διάλεκτος.

καὶ τῶν Τρωικῶν: therefore the statement will hold a fortiori of earlier times.—τοὺς ξύμπαντας ὠνόμασεν: sc. Ἕλληνας.

τοὺς μετ̓ Ἀχιλλέως : cf. Hom. B 684.

ἀνακαλεῖ: cf. vii.69.10; 70. 49, where the verb is used of appealing to one by name, gives them the distinctive name.—τοῖς ἔπεσι : τὰ ἔπη, used only of verses or poetic expressions. Cf. ii.41.14; 54. 4; iii.67.31; 104. 20, 29.

οὐ μὴν οὐδέ: the neg. expression corresponding to the positive οὐ μὴν（μέντοι）ἀλλά, yet this is not all; neither or nor yet again has he used the name βάρβαροι. Cf. c. 82. 1; ii.97.32; vi.55.12.—βαρβάρους: Thuc. takes no notice of the epith. βαρβαρόφωνοι, Hom. B 867, which is applied to the Carians only.—εἴρηκε: pf. regularly of written testimony which is at hand. Cf. c. 9. 24, 25; 10. 22; 13. 20; 21. 3. In 14 the aor. ὠνόμασε with οὐδαμοῦ, in no passage, is an historical statement of fact.

ἀντίπαλον: acc. of inner obj. with ἀποκεκρίσθαι, to have undergone an opposite separation. Eustath., on Hom. B 867, takes the word in agreement with ὄνομα, but the position is against this structure. Cl. regards it as an adv. like τοὐναντίον, τἀναντία. But this is improbable, as the art. is not used; and the passages referred to, vi.23.1; vii.34.23, are better explained as above.—ἀποκεκρίσθαι: cf. iv.72.22; Hdt. i.60.13, ἀπεκρίθη ἐκ παλαιτέρου τοῦ βαρβάρου ἔθνεος τὸ Ἑλληνικόν.

οἱ δ̓ οὖν...κληθέντες : δ̓ οὖν resumes an argument after a long digression (cf. c. 10. 33; 63. 4; ii.5.28; 34. 21; vi.15.20; 56. 1; viii.81.18), particularly when after a statement that may be doubted an unquestionable fact is to be adduced. Kr. Spr. 69, 52, 2. The art. οἱ belongs to κληθέντες, to which Ἕλληνες is the pred. noun or complement. ὡς ἕκαστοι, severally and in succession, sc. ἐκλήθησαν (Kühn. 555, note 15, p. 921; Kr. Spr. 69, 63, 7). Cf. c. 15. 12; 48. 11; 67. 13; iii.107.24; iv.32.7; v.4.8; vii.65.6. This is explained by κατὰ πόλεις τε . . . ξύμπαντες. But however this may be, those who were called Hellenes severally and in succession, whether they were so city by city according as they were mutually intelligible, or at a later time collectively.— ξυνιέναι with gen. here only in Thuc. Cf. Hdt. iv.113.1, οὐ συνίεσαν ἀλλήλων.

ἀμιξίαν ἀλλήλων : cf. Plat. Legg. 854 c, τὰς τῶν κακῶν ξυνουσίας φεῦγε.

πλείω : acc. of inner obj., as with ὠφελεῖν, ii.60.5; with βλάπτειν, vi.33.17. But even this expedition was undertaken by them, because they were now getting greater familiarity with the sea. στρατείαν is construed as in c. 15. 8. See App.

Before proceeding to treat of the Trojan war, c. 8. 16, the mention of the sea here leads Thuc. to discuss the slow development of maritime enterprise among the Greeks.