CHAPTER LXII
τὸ μὲν πρός—either determinant accus. ‘as concerns the Athenians’ like the more usual plural (ch. 15, 10: ch. 85, 28,
τὰ πρὸς Ἀθηναίους): or, according to Poppo, subject to
εὑρίσκεται, ‘the (advantage we gain) in respect of the Athenians is found to be so great an advantage’.
εὖ βουλευομένοις—‘if we take good counsel’, dat. commodi, grammatically connected with either
ἀγαθόν or
εὑρίσκεται. εὑρίσκεται—‘is found’ by due consideration, = ‘proves to be’: so
iii. 47,
τὸ Κλέωνος...οὐχ εὐρίσκεται δυνατόν.
ἄριστον—neut. predicate with
είρήνην:
Plat. Rep. 455 E,
ἀσθενέστερον γυνὴ ἀνδρός, cf. Madv. § 1 b, R. 4.
ἢ δοκεῖτε—this sentence is irregular in construction. Following
δοκεῖτε we have two optatives with
ἄν as if
ὄτι had gone before, and then the inf. construction
ἔχειν τὴν είρήνην dependent on
δοκεῖτε. This last clause too is worded as if
οὑ δοκεῖτε had preceded, a sense which must be supplied from
οὐχ ἡσυχία μᾶλλον. For similar irregularities cf.
i. 3,
δοκεῖ δέ μοι οὐδὲ τοὔνομα τοῦτο ξύμπασά πω εἶχεν, ἀλλὰ. οὐδ᾽ εῖναι ἡ ἐπίκλησις αὔτη.
εἴ τῳ—i.e.
τινί—addressing the individual envoys as representatives of their states.
τὸ μὲν...τὸ δέ correspond to
τὰ ἐναντία and
ἀγαθόν respectively, the order being inverted by the grammatical figure called chiasmus.
ξυνδιασώσαι—‘would help to preserve throughout’: so
vii. 57,
ξυνδιασώσοντες, of the allies who helped to maintain the independence of Sicily:
ii. 62,
διασώσαντες.
ἐν μήκει λόγων—cf.
v. 89,
λὀγων μῆκος ἄπιστον. ὥσπερ περὶ τοῦ πολεμεῖν—referring to what he had already said, ch. 59, 6.
ὑπεριδεῖν...προϊδεῖν—=despicere, prospicere. We have a similar play on sound in a subsequent speech of Hermocrates,
vi. 76,
οὐκ ἀξυνετωτέρου, κακοξυνετωτέρου δέ: so
i. 33,
προεπιβουλεύειν αὐτοῖς μᾶλλον ἢ ἀντεπιβουλεύειν:
ii. 62,
μὴ φρονήματι μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ καταφρονήματι.
βεβαίως—usually connected with
οἴεται, ‘is assured’: cf.
i. 132,
πιστεύσαντες βεβαίως:
i. 134,
βεβαίως εἰδότες, etc. Krüger however joins the word with
πράξειν, quoting ch. 112, 10,
βεβαίως ἑλεῖν: ch. 114, 2,
βεβαίως τῆς πόλεως ἐχομένης, and many similar instances.
τῷ δικαίῳ—‘from the justice of his cause’, dat. of the efficient cause (Madv. § 41). Krüger quotes
Soph. O. C. 880,
τοῖς τοι δικαίοις χὠ βραχὺς νικᾷ μέγαν. For
δίκαιον contrasted with
βία, right as opposed to might, cf.
i. 77,
βιάζεσθαι οἶς ἂν ἐξῇ δικάζεσθαι οὐδὲν προσδέονται.
τῷ παρ᾽ ἐλπίδα—‘let him not be grievously disappointed if he fail’: cf.
vii. 66,
τῷ παρ᾽ ἐλπίδα σφαλλόμενοι.
χαλερῶς=
ὡς χαλερὸν ὄν: cf. ch. 20, 14,
ἀσαφῶς. ρλείους ἤδη—‘many men before now’, lit. ‘more (than he)’.
πλείους is subdivided into two classes,
καὶ τιμωρίαις and
καὶ ἐλπίσαντες, the repeated
καί having a disjunctive force, ‘either...or’, like
τε and
καί, ch. 32, 14. The subdivision is continued in the clauses with
οί μὲν...τοῖς δέ.
τιμωρίαις—dat of the instrument. Krüger cites
i. 34,
πολέμῳ τὰ ἐγκλήματα μετελθεῖν: cf. also ch. 86, 21.
ἕτεροι—‘in other cases’, in partial apposition with
πλείους: for a striking example of this construction cf.
v. 96,
ἄποικοι ὄντες οί πολλοὶ καὶ ἀποστάντες τινές, ‘being colonists for the most part and having revolted in some cases’.
οὐχ ὅσον οὐκ— ‘not only failed to avenge their wrongs’: so
ii. 97,
οὐχ ὅτι. We have also
μὴ ὅτι, οὐχ ὅπως, etc. in a similar sense: see Madv. § 212.
προσκαταλιπεῖν—‘to leave behind them besides’, i.e. to lose: in
ii. 36 the word is used of those who bequeathed an accession of territory to their descendants.
δικαίως— ‘in accordance with justice’, i.e. as our ideas of justice would lead us to expect.
ὅτι καὶ ἀδικεῖται—καί, ‘also’, connects the two notions of wrong received and just revenge. ‘The antecedent, and not as in English would be more natural the consequent, is emphasized’ (Jowett): so infr.
καὶ εὔελπι: ch. 64, 1,
καὶ ἀρχόμενος. The nom. to
ἀδικεῖται is
τιμωρία personified, sc. the injured man. It is to be noted that the present tense of
ἀδικῶ is used in both active and passive so long as the wrong done is not atoned for:
i. 38,
διαφερόντως τι ἀδικούμενοι, ‘suffering a great wrong’.
ὡς ἐπὶ πλεῖστον κρατεῖ—‘prevails to the utmost’: Krüger quotes
Soph. O. T. 977,
ἄνθρωπος, ᾧ τὰ τῆς τύχης κρατεῖ, πρόνοια δ᾽ ἐστὶν οὐδενὸς σαφής.
