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Ἔτος—Intr. p. xlii. ὡμολογεῖτο ἐκ πάντων—the other places in Thuc. in which ἐκ = ὑπὸ are I. 20, 2; III. 69, 1; V. 104; VI. 36, 2. The use is not found in Aristoph., and there are but very faint and doubtful traces of it in the orators. This use is Ionic, but occurs now and then in Attic (though Shil. denies the use altogether). ὁμολογοῦμαι often has παρὰ instead of ὑπὸ (Andoc. 1, 140; Lysias, 30, 12; Isaeus, 1, 38 and 42; 2, 16 and 40; 4. 15; 11, 10; Demosth. 34, 5; Dinarch. 1, 53 and 90; 3, 8), in Demosth. 29, 20 ὁμολογεῖσθαι has πρός; in Isaeus 5, 17 we have ἃ ὡμολογήθη ἡμῖν: so Plat Phaedo, p. 106 C. προέκαμνε—viz. before the plague established itself. Contrast the opt. and imperf. in c. 51, 1, where Thuc. uses the indef. form because he speaks of a long period of time, whereas here he refers to a definite moment, viz. just before the plague broke out. ἀπεκρίθη—‘determined in this,’ i.e. ‘the symptoms eventually assumed the character of the disease.’ All who were ailing before were attacked.
Τοὺς δ᾽ ἄλλους—when once an epidemic has esta- blished itself, it shows itself ‘suddenly and without ostensible cause’ (Collier). These words must not be so pressed as to admit of no exceptions whatever; exceptions are mentioned in c. 51, 1. πρῶτον μὲν—first stage; intense heat in head, inflammation in eyes, bleeding from throat and tongue, fetid breath, and, after these symptoms, sneezing and hoarseness. ἄτοπον—cf. c. 51, 1, ‘unnatural.’ ἠφίει—both ἀφίει and ἠφίει are Attic. φάρυγξ—see not. crit.: ancient grammarians were not agreed on the orthography. Herodian says φάρυξ, Hesych. φάρυγξ.
Ἐξ αὐτῶν—after the symptoms just described. See c. 4, 2. πταρμὸς—due to inflammation of the mucous membrane. καὶ ἐν οὐ πολλῷ—second stage: the disease attacks the chest, the consequence of the passage of the morbid action along the membrane that lines the respiratory organ being violent coughing. For ἐν οὐ πολλῷ contrast c. 41, 3. πόνος—‘the disorder.’ ὁπότε—third stage: the disease, on reaching the stomach, caused vomiting and great distress, and, in most cases, ineffectual retching; then the skin turned livid, and broke out in vesicles which degenerated into ulcers. Then came the crisis. καρδίαν—‘stomach.’ στηρίξειεν— intrans., a medical use. ἀποκαθάρσεις—‘vomits of bile.’ ὅσαι—evidently referring to different terms used to denote the various colours that bile has in different diseases, or stages of a disease; e.g. in cholera, the bile is first dark brown, then light green. Probably, as Grote says, Thuc. was acquainted with medical terms. ὑπὸ ἰατρῶν ὠνομασμέναι—though the subject is non-personal, yet, if it be a nom, or fem. noun, it is not uncommon to find the agent with the perf. pass. expressed by ὑπό, instead of by the regular dat.: see on c. 29, 3. ταλαιπωρίας—‘distress’ (tenesmus): a medical term.
Λύγξ—rendered ‘retching,’ but Collier says it should be ‘hiccough,’ because the hiccough is an important symptom of deadly maladies, especially of those which affect the membrane of parts within the chest. But (1) this leaves κενὴ unexplained, (2) the disease described is now unknown. ἐνδιδοῦσα— ‘producing,’ the same use of ἐν as in ἐμποιῶ, ἐντίθημι. μετὰ ταῦτα—after the previous symptoms (see third stage). λωφήσαντα—with μετὰ ταῦτα. Cf. c. 2, 1. λωφᾶ:ι παύεται Hesych., cf. Plat. Phaedrus, 251 C λωφᾷ τῆς ὀδύνης (Collier takes this with σπασμόν, as do some edd., but this would require λωφῶντα to match ἐνδιδοῦσα).
Τὸ μὲν ἔξωθεν—adverbial, ἔξωθεν being for ἔξω. Cf. c. 13, 7. ἁπτομένῳ—with θερμὸν ἦν, ‘to the touch.’ σῶμα —for absence of art. cf. 8 below. χλωρόν—‘pale.’ φλύκταιναι—transparent vesicles, little blains which degenerate into sores. τὰ δὲ ἐντὸς—the ἀκμὴ of the disease is now reached. It came in the third stage, and was marked by internal fever, intolerable thirst, and sleeplessness: yet the body was scarcely weakened by its suffering. μήτε— answered by ἥδιστά τε. τὰς ἐπιβολὰς—for the order, cf. 18, 1. μηδ᾽—not connected with μήτε, but only joins ἐπιβολὰς to ἄλλο τι ἢ and with it=nec nisi; cf. c. 16, 2. γυμνοὶ—the nom. is justified by τὰ ἐντός, part of themselves, With γυμνοὶ supply ὄντες. Cf. c. 45, 1 ὁρῶ μέγαν τὸν ἀγῶνα. So with τυγχἀνω c. 87, 5, φαίνεσθαι c. 39, 4. In the two cases in which Thuc. uses διατελῶ with adj., he omits ὤν (I. 34; VI. 89); contrast VII. 38 παρασκευαζόμενοι διετέλεσαν. ἥδιστα ἂν—i.e. ἥδιστ᾽ ἂν ἔρριπτον, lit. ‘so as to have thrown themselves (had they been allowed).’ The infin. with ἂν is not common with ὤστε. M. T. 211, 592. καὶ πολλοὶ— ‘and in fact.’ Cf. c. 2, 4. ἔδρασαν—cf. c. 11, 8. Here = σφᾶς αὐτοὺς ἔρριψαν. τῇ δίψῃ ἀπαύστῳ—the adj., being pred., is emphatic, as always; ‘which was unceasing.’ (There are not many examples quite like this in Thuc.: I. 49 ἑνέπρησαν τὰς σκηνὰς ἐρήμους, c. 13, 5 τὰ χρήματα οὐκ ὀλίγα, IV. 122 τῇ ἰσχύι ἀνωφελεῖ πιστεύοντες, and VII. 70, 6). τὸ πλέον καὶ ἔλασσον—the art. omitted with ἔλασσον, though the two things are mutually exclusive, as in I. 10 τὰς μεγίστας καὶ ἐλαχίστας. ἡ ἀπορία τοῦ μὴ—the infin. after a noun, as in c. 60, 7 αἰτίαν τοῦ ἀδικεῖν. The μὴ is added because the whole result is neg., as often. Plat. Apol. p. 38 D ἀπορίᾳ ... τοῦ μὴ ἐθέλειν, ‘the neg. being added as after other neg. or prohibitive words’ (Shil.). Andoc. 2, 12 κίνδυνος περὶ τοῦ μηδὲ αὐτοὺς σωθῆναι, ‘a risk lest not even they should be saved.’ See also c. 62, 3; III. 75, 4 ἡ τοῦ μὴ ξυμπλεῖν ἀπιστία.
᾿Επέκειτο—instabat; cf. c. 59, 1. ὅσονπερ καὶ— like ὥσπερ καί, the καὶ merely making the two things parallel. ἀκμάζοι—iterative, in a rel. clause. Cf. VII. 70, 5 ὅσον χρόνον προσφέροιτο ναῦς. M. T. 521. ὥστε—the result is in the partic. ἔτι ἔχοντες, not in διεφθείροντο: this inversion of partic. and verb is very common. οἱ πλεῖστοι—belongs only to διεφθείροντο, a new subject οἱ πολλοὶ (most of the minority who did not die on the 7th or 9th day) being inserted in the next clause. καὶ ἑβδομαῖοι—the main emphasis is on this, the second member, as constantly in Greek. ὑπὸ τοῦ καύματος—c. 47, 4. τι δυνάμεως—cf. I. 5, 1 τι καὶ δόξης, III. 44, 2 ἐχοντάς τι ξυγγνώμης. διαφύγοιεν—‘pulled through.’ ἐπικατιόντος—fourth stage, only reached by comparatively few, marked by ulceration of the bowels, after the internal fever had abated; then followed violent dysentery, leaving the patient so weak that he generally died. ἀπεφθείροντο —poetical word. See not. crit.
Ἐν τῇ κεφαλῇ π. ἱδρυθὲν—Kr. thinks this an adscript, and is followed by F. Muller. τῶν γε—effects seen in the convalescents ‘a seizure of the extremities remained as a mark (of the disease)’. ἀντίληψις—for ἐπίσκηψις. Elsewhere ἀ. = an objection to an argument, as Plat. Phaedo p. 87 A. [ αὐτοῦ]—if the conjecture αὐτὸ = τὸ περιγενέσθαι, it clearly involves a contradiction, since Thuc. is giving the signs of the disease before the recovery, but it might stand in the sense of τὸ κακόν. ἐπεσήμαινε—absolute, cf. c. 8, 3, 43, 3. Cf. Eur. Hec. 1215.
Ἐς αἰδοῖα—art. omitted, as often with parts of the body. παραυτίκα ἀναστάντας—‘immediately on their recovery.’ The loss of memory was temporary. ἠγνόησαν —aor., giving the result of the imperf. ἐλάμβανε.
Commentary on Thucydides Book 2. E.C. Marchant. London. MacMillan & Company. 1891.
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