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

τά τε ἀπὸ τῶν ἐναντίων—the sense (says Prof. Lamberton) is, ‘when fair proposals were made by the adversary, the other party, when they had the advantage of superiority, would receive them not in a spirit of generosity, but only with practical precautions’ Thus οἱ ἐνδεχόμενοι, not οἱ ἐναντίοι, is the subject of προύχοιεν. This is surely correct, though the passage is usually taken as if οἱ ἐναντίοι denoted the stronger party, and the subject of ἐνεδέχοντο were ‘the weaker.’ The right version is given by Herbst, who says “How can it be supposed that from the party that had the upper hand at the moment proposals should emanate that were generous to the weaker side, and how can any one conceive that generosity (γενναιότης) should lead the weaker side to accept them?” For ἔργων φυλακῇ cf c. 46, 4.

ὅρκοι . . ξυναλλαγῆς—‘oaths to confirm a reconciliation’; cf. Andocides, de Myst. 103 διηλλάγητε καὶ ὅρκους ὠμόσατε.

πρὸς τὸ ἄπορον ἑ. διδόμενοι—‘as they were administered to either side only to meet an emergency.’ It is surely unnecessary to regard ἑκατέρῳ as dat of agent, as is usually done.

οὐκ ἐχόντων applies to those who took the oaths tendered—i.e. it applies by sense to ἑκατέρῳ—and explains πρὸς τὸ ἄπορον. ὅρκον δίδωμι generally means ‘I administer an oath,’ but in Eur. Hipp. 735 ‘I take an oath.’ The ordinary meaning gives an equallv good sense here.

ἐν δὲ τῷ παρατυχόντι—‘when a chance occurred.’

ὁ φθάσας θαρσῆσαι—see MT. 903. 8, where grave doubts are raised as to the possibility of the infin. with φθάνω in place of the ordinary partic. As φθάσας θαρσήσας is intolerable, it is best to give the text as it stands, leaving the point undecided. The paraphrase of Dionysius is worth notice: εἰ δέ που παρατύχοι τινὶ καιρὸς καὶ μάθοι τὸν ἐχθρὸν ἀφύλακτον, ἥδιον ἐτιμωρεῖτο ὅτι πιστεύσαντι μᾶλλον ἐπέθετο ἢ φυλαττομένῳ. διὰ τὴν πίστιν applies to the enemy, as having confidence in the oath.

ἢ ἀπὸ τοῦ προφανοῦς=‘than when he attacked openly,’ giving the other side a fair chance.

ῥᾷον δ᾽ οἱ πολλοὶ . . ἀγαθοί—‘most men are more readily called elever if they are knaves than good if they are ignorant’ Another way of taking this is: ‘most men prefer to be called clever knaves rather than honest fools.’ The Gk favours the first. the connexion with the previous sentence the second. To make the latter way easier Steup brackets ὄντες.