CHAPTER XIX
Λακεδαιμόνιοι δέ—‘now the Lacedaemonians invite you’;
δέ introduces the terms actually proposed, after the general observations with which the speakers had begun. So, in other speeches of envoys, after some preliminary words, we have the question at issue brought in with
δέ:
i. 32,
Κερκυραῖοι δὲ...ἀπέστειλαν ἡμᾶς:
iii. 10,
ἡμῖν δὲ...ξυμμαχία ἐγένετο.
διάλυσιν πολέμου—cf. line 10,
διαλύεσθαι:
iii. 114,
διαλύειν πόλεμον. κατάλυσις πολέμου is found ch. 118, 60 and
viii. 18 (in the words of treaties).
διδόντες—‘offering’: so ch. 21, 4,
διδομένης:
i. 85,
ἐπὶ τὸν διδόντα (
δίκας), ‘against him who is ready to give satisfaction’. The inf.
ὑπάρχειν is added to define the result looked for, ‘for this to subsist between us’:
Xen. Anab. i. 6. 6. 6,
τοῦτον ἔδωκεν ὑπήκοον εἶναι ἐμοί. ἄλλην—‘in general, in other respects’:
i. 2,
οὔτε μεγἐθει πόλεων ἴσχυον οὔτε τῇ ἄλλῃ παρασκευῇ. οἰκειότητα— ‘friendly understanding’.
τοὺς ἐκ—cf. ch. 8, 1.
διακινδυνεύεσθαι—‘that the hazard should be risked to the utmost’, lit. risked out (
διά), passive impersonal: so
i. 73,
ἐπ᾽ ὠφελίᾳ ἐκινδυνεύετο, etc. (mid. Cobet).
εἴτε βίᾳ διαφύγοιεν—dependent on
διακινδυνεύεσθαι, ‘whether they might escape’, the optative of deliberation after a past tense; like
i. 25,
ἐπήροντο εἰ παραδοῖεν, ‘asked if they were to give up’. It carries back the idea of
ἡγούμενοι to the time when the Lacedaemonians decided to send their envoys.
παρατυχούσης—cf.
παρέτυχεν ὁ καιρός, ch. 103, 14:
viii. 11,
ἕως ὄν τις παρατύχῃ διαφυγή, ‘till some means of escape offer’: so
παραπέσοι, ch. 23, 21.
μᾶλλον ἂν χειρωθεῖεν—‘they might be likely to be still more reduced within your power’. The construction is slightly changed by the introduction of
ἄν with the optative; the Lacedaemonians not choosing to speak of the capture of their countrymen except as a matter of contingent possibility.
ἀνταμυνόμενος—cf. line 17:
iii. 84.
ἐπικρατήσας τὰ πλέω—‘having proved victorious in most points of the war’. For
τὰ πλέω, cf. ch. 18, 24: so
vii. 63,
τὰ πλείω ἐπικρατεῖν. Instead of
πολέμου Classen reads
πολεμίου, ‘having got the better of his enemy’, thus supplying an object to
ἐγκαταλαμβάνων and defining
αὐτόν in line 15.
ἐγκαταλαμβάνων—‘binding his foe down in (an agreement)’, with
κατ᾽ ἀνάγκην and
ὅρκοις: so ch. 86, 3,
ὅρκοις καταλαβών:
i. 9,
ὅρκοις κατειλημμένους. μὴ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἴσου ξυμβῇ— ‘shall make peace on unequal terms’:
iii. 11,
ἀπὸ τοῦ ἴσου ὁμιλοῦντες, etc.
παρὸν τὸ αὐτὸ δρᾶσαι—‘though it is in his power to do the same’. i.e. to impose harsh conditions:
πρὸς τὸ ἐπιεικές, etc. going with what follows. Classen however connects
πρὸς τὸ ἐπιεικές with
δρᾶσαι, and renders ‘when he can effect the same end (i.e. secure peace) in the way of moderation’. Krüger takes the same view, but connects
καὶ ἀρετῇ also with
δρᾶσαι. πρὸς τὸ ἐπιεικές—‘having regard to what is moderate and equitable’:
i. 76,
ἐκ τοῦ ἐπιεικοῦς, ‘from our moderation’:
iii. 4.
ὁμολογίᾳ ἐπιεικεῖ, ‘on fair terms’. In the philosophical language of Aristotle
ἐπιείκεια is equity, as opposed to strict justice.
καὶ ἀρετῇ αὐτὸν νικήσας—‘having also conquered him in generosity’. Arnold quotes Eur. Herc. Fur. 339,
ἀρετῇ σε νικῶ, θνητὸς ὤν, θεὸν μέγαν. αὑτόν—his adversary; even if we do not read
πολεμίου with Classen, there seems no difficulty in supplying this sense, as the enemy is certainly to be understood as the object of
ἐγκατ. Krüger reads
αὑτὸν νικήσας, ‘having subdued himself’. The reading of most manuscripts is
αὐτὸ νικήσας, which would give the sense, ‘having got the better of it’, i.e. of his wish to insist upon severe terms.
παρὰ ἃ προσεδέχετο—‘contrary to what (his enemy) looked for’. Poppo regards
προσεδέχετο as passive, but admits that there is no similar example in good Greek; Kruger suggests the plpf.
προσεδέδεκτο in pass. sense.
μετρίως ξυναλλαγῇ—‘shall agree upon moderate terms’:
viii. 90,
ξυναλλαγῆναι πρὸς τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους: in act.,
v. 45, ‘to settle differences’.
ὀφείλων—‘being bound, being under obligation’.
ἀνταποδοῦναι ἀρετήν—‘to show generosity in return’: cf.
ii. 40,
ἐς ὀφείλημα τὴν ἀρετὴν ἀποδώσων, ‘as an obligation’.
αἰσχύνῃ—the ‘sense of shame’ which makes a man shrink from doing what would be dishonourable: it may sometimes be rendered honour or self-respect.
πρὸς τοὺς μειζόνως ἐχθρούς—‘in dealing with those who are more deeply their enemies’.
τοὺς τὸ μέτρια διενεχθέντας—‘those who quarrelled with them in small things’, a construction like
τὰ πλἐω, line 12.
διαφέρεσθαι—‘to be at variance with’:
v. 31,
διαφερόμενοι τοῖς Λακεδαιμονίοις.
ἀνθησσᾶσθαι—‘to make counter-concessions’, a rare word, which here, like other verbs of giving way to, takes the dative of the person in whose favour the concessions are made. In the same sense we have in ch. 64, 8,
ὅσον εἰκὸς ἡσσᾶσθαι: so
i. 77,
ἐλασσούμενοι, ‘a bating our strict rights’.
ἡσσάομαι usually means ‘to be worsted’, or with gen. ‘to yield to’: cf. ch. 37, 7. The dat.
iii. 38,
ἀκοῆς ὴδονῇ ἡσσώμενοι, is ‘overcome by your delight in listening’.
πρὸς τὰ ὑπεραυχοῦντα—‘against overweening arrogance’, neuter instead of masculine: so
ii. 45,
φθόνος τοῖς ζῶσι πρὸς τὸ ἁντίπαλον, ‘jealousy is felt by living men against rival claims’, etc.
καὶ παρὰ γνώμην—‘even against their better judgment’:
i. 70,
παρὰ γνώμην κινδυνευταί:
vi. 9,
εἶπον παρὰ γνωμην.
