E.C. Marchant, Commentary on Thucydides: Book 2

---

---

Τὸ μὲν—‘on the one hand,’ answered by δέ, instead of τὸ δέ. κρίνοντες—anacoluthon, as though the preceding clause had been pass. = ὑπ᾽ οὐδενὸς νόμου ἀπείργοντο. Such a slight irregularity is not uncommon in Thuc. and tragedy, as Eur. Hec. 971 αἰδώς μ᾽ ἔχει ... τυγχάνουσα. Cf. III. 36 ἔδοξεν αὐτοῖς . ἐπικαλοῦντες. (Shil. quotes IV. 108, as a ‘still bolder anacoluthon.’ But the cases are almost certainly wrong there. As εἰωθότες κ.τ.λ. is clearly general, prob. the gen. abs. should be read.)

ἐν ὁμοίῳ—cf. c. 49, 5, 61 ἐν ἴσῳ δικαιοῦν, 60 ἐν ἴσῳ (ἐστί).

καὶ μὴ—sc. σέβειν. ἐλπίζων—cf. c. 11, 6; had a plur. been nearer and οὐδεὶς not so near, Thuc. would have written ἐλπίζοντες, as VII. 28, 3.

μέχρι τοῦ—so v. 73, 4.

βιοὺς ἂν—the ἂν belongs also to ἀντιδοῦναι, = βιῶναι ἂν καὶ ἀντιδοῦναι. τιμωρίαν—with τῶν ὰμαρτημάτων. The art. and ἀντιδοῦναι shows that they sinned well knowing that retribution awaited them if they lived. With the general description, cf. St. Matthew, XXIV. 12, where Christ speaks of the destruction of Jerusalem, διὰ τὸ πληθυνθῆναι τὴν ἀνομίαν ψυγήσεται ἡ ἀγαπὴ τῶν πολλῶν. πολὺ δὲ—sc νομίζοντες, and for the interchange of words of saying and thinking which have to be supplied from the context, cf. c. 13. κατεψηφισμένην—sc. τιμωρίαν, i.e. νόσον. ἣν ... εἶναι—cf. c. 13, 5, 24, 2, 102, 5.

εἰκὸς —c. 10, 1.