Speech of the Corinthian ambassadors. Chaps. 37-43.
The Corcyraeans have misrepresented their position as well as ours. They have hitherto
maintained their isolation that they might have no check on their wrong-doing.
ἀλλ᾽ ὡς καί: instead of the usual
ἀλλὰ καὶ ὡς. The trajection is due to a desire to emphasize
strongly the perversion of truth attributed to the Corcyraeans.
καί,
actually, covers the two following clauses,
which are again united in
περὶ ἀμφοτέρων, neut. (not
ἑκατέρων). See App.
πολεμοῦνται: pass. of
πολεμεῖν τινι, as c. 68. 18;
iv.68.12. See
on c. 2. 18.
οὕτω: in reference to
μνησθέντας: “we must first make our statement on
both these points;
when that is done.” Kühn.
486, note 5. Cf. c. 22. 7;
iii.96.8;
iv.88.8;
vi.24.3.
τὴν ἀφ᾽ ἡμῶν ἀξίωσιν: implies that the
Corinthians are making a well-grounded claim, as opposed to the pressing entreaty
(
χρεία) of the Corcyraeans. The emphatic
ἀφ᾽ ἡμῶν is for the same reason preferred to the simple gen.
Cf. c. 39. 14;
ii.39.6;
iv.108.36;
vi.40.15;
vii.77.17.
ἀσφαλέστερον προειδῆτε: i.e. that you may
the better protect yourselves against their deceptive persuasion by knowing the facts in
time, before you take the decisive step.—
μὴ
ἀλογίστως:
not without reasonable grounds; litotes
for ‘with mature consideration.’
μή
here is to be closely connected with the adv., as
οὐκ
with
εἰκότως in 3. See on c. 32. 24.
φασὶ δέ:
now they assert;
δέ marks the transition from the general statement to
the details, and should not be altered with Kr. to
δή.
See on c. 32. 7. Cf.
iii.61.9.—
τὸ σῶφρον: see on c. 2. 19.
τὸ δέ:
δέ
expresses a vigorous opposition,
but on the contrary, like cum
tamen and
τό retains its old dem. sense. Cf. Dem.
XVIII. 140,
τὸ δ᾽ οὐ τοιοῦτόν ἐστι; Stallbaum on
Plat.
Apol. 23 a. Kühn. 459 c.—
ἀρετῇ:
from magnanimity. The
repetition of the prep. is not necessary. Cf.
iv.19.12.
ξύμμαχόν τε οὐδένα: for
οὔτε ξύμμαχόν τινα, to lay more stress on the noun. Cf. c.
34. 9. Since the connexion of
οὔτε—οὔτε
depends on the repeated
τε, so here
τε—οὔτε, though not occurring elsewhere in Thuc.,
is not less justifiable than
οὔτε —τε. So
Herbst, Philol. 10, p. 333.
παρακαλοῦντες: gives the occasion of
αἰσχύνεσθαι, “they are not inclined to expose
themselves to shame by inviting others to join them in their base
undertakings.” See App.
θέσιν: since
κεῖσθαι is the pf. pass. of
τιθέναι, θέσις
is its verbal noun, and so this expression is like
ἕδραν
καθῆσθαι, Eur.
Heracl. 55;
προσθακεῖν,
Soph. O. C.
1166. G. 159; H. 715; Kühn. 410, 1 b.
παρέχει: copiam facit, here with acc. and
inf.; with inf. alone,
iii.63.10; with dat. and inf.,
viii.50.26.—
αὐτοὺς δικαστὰς...γίγνεσθαι
: Cl. explains this, with a zeugma of
γίγνεσθαι, “to constitute themselves judges of the wrongs they
do rather than enter into any covenant which would hamper them.” He thinks
that this sense of
κατὰ ξυνθήκας γίγνεσθαι is
justified by
γίγνεσθαι with
κατὰ
ξυστάσεις,
ii.21.15;
κατὰ ξυλλόγους,
iii.27.7;
δἰ ἀνοκωχῆς, c. 40. 16;
ἐπ᾽
ἀμφότερα, c. 139. 20;
ἐκ τοῦ ἴσου,
ii.3.18;
ἐν δικασταῖς,
iii.53.4;
δἰ ἔχθρας,
Ar.
Ran. 1412. Another explanation seems simpler: “They can in
consequence of their independent position make themselves judges of the wrongs they do
to a greater extent than would be possible if commercial treaties bound them,”
where
γίγνεσθαι is taken impers., = rem agi. Sh. and
Jowett understand
δικαστάς as subj. of
γίγνεσθαι, “than that judges should be appointed by
covenant.”
ἐκπλέοντας: sc.
τοὺς
Κερκυραίους, while the other partic. agrees with
τοὺς ἄλλους, i.e. the citizens of other cities who
ἀνάγκῃ καταίρουσι by reason of the position of the island (c. 36. 10).
κἀν τούτῳ:
and in this
state of things, described in § 2, 3. Cf. c. 81. 9.—
τὸ εὐπρεπὲς ἄσπονδον: cf. c. 32, § 3,
4. An adj. used as subst. qualified by an epithet, as
τὸ
ἀνθρώπειον κομπῶδες,
v.68.6;
τὸ ξύνηθες ἥσυχον,
vi.34.17;
τὸ πρότερον ξύνηθες φοβερόν,
vi.55.15.
προβέβληνται:
they have put
forward as a cloak. Cf.
ii.87.14;
iii.63.9. Their designs expressed by final sentences;
ξυναδικήσωσιν, the aor., of single cases,
ἀδικῶσι, pres., of long opportunity. There is a paronomasia
(c. 33. 26) here, since
κατὰ μόνας (cf. c. 32. 18)
answers to the
ξυν-. St. after Cobet omits the second
ὅπως, since the following clauses are merely an
epexegesis of
ἀδικῶσι.
πλέον ἔχωσι
: this phrase is regularly employed to designate unrighteous
gain. Cf. c. 76. 15;
iii.43.12;
iv.62.16;
viii.99.12; and so the noun
πλεονέκτης, c. 40. 2. —
ἢν δέ πού...ἀναισχυντῶσι
: this does not, as Cl. says, imply that there is a third method,
opposed to the force or fraud of the two preceding clauses; but that, if by either of
these means they have made some (
που) gain, they may be
able to brazen it out in the absence of witnesses. Cf.
iv.86.5, where
βία and
ἀπάτη are named as the two means by which men
προσλαμβάνουσι what they want. See App.
εἰ ἦσαν:
if they really
were. Cf. c. 25. 23.
ὅσῳ...ἦσαν
: though this clause expresses the actual state of things,
“in proportion as they
are less assailable by
others” (cf. c. 143. 21), the impf. is used by assimilation to the unreal
cond. GMT. 64, 2; H. 919 b; Kühn. 399, 6.—
τόσῳ δέ: so we should probably read with Hertlein for
τοσῷδε, which occurs only in reference to real
relations of magnitude (cf. c. 23. 6; 122. 16;
ii.72.7,
etc.). The simple
τόσῳ for
τοσούτῳ is found in
iv.28.13;
viii.24.22. The use of
δέ in apodosi after a dem. pron. or emphatic art. (
ii.46.6; 65. 19; iii. 98. 2) is as early as
Homer. Cf. Hom. A 58; I 167;
γ 10. G. 227, 2; H. 1046, 1
c; Kühn. 533, 1. Cf. also
ὣς δέ, Plat.
Prot. 326 d, and
οὕτω δέ, 328 a.
ἐξῆν: like other imperss. of power, manner,
etc., regularly in the impf. without
ἄν. GMT. 49, 2, N. 3; H. 897.
τὰ δίκαια: more usually
δίκας. Cf. c. 140. 14;
v.59.24.
See on c. 28. 6. The Corinthians did not regard the offers of the Corcyraeans, c. 28.
§ 2 ff., as
δίκαια, as is stated in c. 39; and
probably the art. is used with
δίκαια to denote the
behaviour which is actually required by justice.
