CHAPTER XVI
τὸν λόγον—‘the proposition’:
v. 37,
δεχομένους τὸν λόγον. The plural ‘propositions, terms’ in general, is more commonly used.
ἐγίγνοντο—‘was made’; impf. because the writer now gives the terms which the contracting parties went on to arrange, a matter taking some little time; on the conclusion of which he uses the aor.
ἐγένοντο, line 25.
τοιαίδε—‘on the following terms’. The conditions are given in the acc. and infin. construction, ‘The Lacedaemonians to give up, etc.’, ‘it is agreed’ being understood. The same construction is followed in citing laws, decrees of the assembly, etc.
μακραί—i.e. ships of war, opp. to
ναῦς στρογγυλη (
ii. 97), ‘a round ship’, i.e. with a capacious hull, fit for conveying cargo,
ὀλκάς and
πλοῖον are also terms applied to merchant ships.
ὅπλα μὴ ἐπιφέρειν—with dat.: ch. 78, 26,
Ἀθηναίοις ὅπλα ἐπιφέρειν:
v. 18,
ἐπ᾽ Ἀθηναίους.
τακτόν—‘fixed in quantity’: ch. 65, 6,
τακτὸν ἀργύριον, ‘a fixed sum’.
μεμαγμένον—‘kneaded’, i.e. prepared and probably ready baked. The amount specified is a day's allowance.
χοῖνιξ = 1/48
μέδιμνος, about a quart;
κοτύλη, about half a pint. Two
χοίνικες of meal and one
κοτύλη of wine was the portion sent to the houses of the Spartan kings when they did not dine at the public table (Hdt.
vi. 57): one
χοῖνιξ of meal a day, according to commentators, was considered a slave's proper allowance.
κρέας—‘meat’; no particular quantity is specified. It may be conjectured that some words giving the measure have been omitted, or that
κρέας means a portion of meat of definite size. Krüger quotes Xen. Cyr.
ii. 2. 2,
ἐγένετο ἑκάστῳ ἡμῶν τρία κρέα: cf. also Ar. Ran. 553,
κρέα ἀνάβραστ᾽ εἴκοσιν.
ὅσα μὴ ἀποβαίνοντας—‘provided only they do not land’, lit. ‘in all (that they can do) not landing’:
i. 111,
τῆς γῆς ἐκράτουν ὅσα μὴ προϊόντες πολὺ ἐκ τῶν ὅπλων, ‘they were masters of the country except in so much as they could not advance any great distance from their headquarters’.
ὅ τι δ᾽ ἄν—‘and whatsoever of these provisions (either of) the two contracting parties shall transgress in what respect soever, the truce be then and there at an end’.
ὅ τι and
ὁτιοῦν are both acc. after
παραβαίνωσιν, καί not meaning ‘and’ but emphasizing
ὁτιοῦν. Either the construction is a species of apposition, or
ὁτιοῦν is a determinant accusative denoting the part of the object to which the action of the verb extends (Madvig, § 31). Similarly we have in 123, 5,
ἔστιν ἃ παραβαίνειν τὰς σπονδάς, ‘to transgress the truce in certain particulars’.
The construction of
τότε λελύσθαι is slightly irregular, as if
ἤν τι had gone before instead of
ὅ τι ἄν. Such irregularities with
ὅστις are common: cf.
Plat. Euthyph. 3 D, where we have
ἄν τινα οἴωνται followed by
δ̀ν δ᾽ ἂν οἴωνται with no other change of constr.: also notes on
Soph. Trach. 96,
κλαῖε δ᾽ ὀργάνων ὅτου ψαυσεῖεν. λελύσθαι gives the sense that on any violation of the terms the truce is to be considered as thereby terminated, the perfect inf. denoting the complete accomplishment of a thing, and the state produced by such complete accomplishment: ch. 46, 17,
ὥστε ἅπασι λελύσθαι τὰς σπονδάς: so
ἐσπεῖσθαι, line 19, ‘the truce be (now considered as) concluded’.
ἐσπεῖσθαι (pf. pass.
σπένδομαι) and
ἔσπειστο occur
iii. 111.
μέχρι οὗ—‘until they shall have returned’. The subj. without
ἂν after relatives and conjunctions of time, denoting present or future contingency, is usually regarded as a poetical construction. It is however far from uncommon in Thucydides:
iii. 28,
μέχρι οὗ τι δόξῃ, ‘till something shall have been determined’:
i. 13,
μέχρι (conj.)
πλοῦς γένηται, ‘till the ship shall have put to sea’, etc.
Speech of the Lacedaemonian envoys before the public assembly on their arrival at Athens. It is marked by a tone of somewhat arrogant superiority. They invite the Athenians to secure peace by restoring the captives, and enlarge upon the uncertainty of fortune and the folly of trusting to it. They do not however suggest any concessions on their own part, but rather imply that an end of the war is a boon which the Athenians would gladly secure on any terms.
