E.C. Marchant, Commentary on Thucydides: Book 3

ἀντιπάλων—‘equally matched’ (here, in argument), a common meaning of ἀντίπαλος in Thuc.

ἦλθον μὲν ἐς ἀγῶνα ὅμως τῆς δόξης—‘engaged in a conflict of opinion after all,’ i.e. in spite of the revulsion of feeling (c. 36). ὅμως, as Poppo pointed out (Proleg. i. p. 290) implies a clause which is omitted; and, in spite of the remoteness of reference, the interpretation seems warranted by such passages as c. 28, and VII. 1. Some render τῆς δόξης ‘about the decree,’ but the gen. should express the feeling, as in νῦν ἀγὼν εὐψυχίας Eur. Med. 403, and βούλευμα or ψήφισμα would be expected for ‘decree’ here.

προτέρας—the best MSS. have δευτέρας, as the result, no doubt, of an unfortunate conjecture, based on εἰ φθάσειαν below.

οἴνῳ . . πεφυραμένα—‘barley-meal kneaded with wine . .,’ into cakes, μᾶζαι, of the kind called οἰνοῦτται. φυρᾶν, not φύρειν, is the form of the word in this sense.

ὅσον . . ἀνεγνωκέναι—‘as for him to have read,’ like ὅσον ἀποζῆν in I. 2. ὅσον practically=ὤστε.

ὑστέρα αὐτῆς—as this is predicative, the ἐπι- in the verb is pleonastic, if, as elsewhere, the verb=‘is brought into port after.’ It is possible that ἐπι- implies haste, as in ἐπιβοηθεῖν: we expect such an allusion here, and Steup suggests αὐτίκ᾽ for αὐτῆς.

παρὰ τοσοῦτον . . ἦλθε—this and similar phrases—παρὰ μικρὸν ἐλθεῖν, παρ᾽ οὐδὲν ἐ.—are followed either by gen. or, more often, infin.; e g. Herod. IX. 33 παρ᾽ ἕν πάλαισμα ἔδραμε νικᾶν. παρὰ τοσοῦτον=‘within, up to, so short a distance.’ κίνδυνος means the danger of destruction, and the gen. is the same as with ἐγγύς.