CHAPTER LXXXVI
καταλαβών—
i. 9,
ὅρκοις κατειλημμένους: cf. ch. 19, 13. ‘Not because Brasidas himself distrusted the Lacedaemonian magistrates as Grote supposes (vol. iv. ch. 52 fin.), but as a security to which he could appeal when addressing the allies’ (Jowett). For
τὰ τέλη see ch. 15, 3.
προσαγάγωμαι—‘bring over, win to my side’:
ii. 30,
προσηγάγοντο ἄνευ μάχης:
vi. 94,
προσαγαγόμενοι ὁμολογίᾳ; sometimes implying force ‘reduce’,
i. 99,
προσάγεσθαι τοὺς ἀφισταμένους: so
iii. 91. In these words Brasidas seems to hint at the Athenian practice of treating their so-called allies as subjects.
ξυμμαχήσοντες—instead of
ξυμμαχήσων, the plural being used after the intervening
ἵν᾽ ἔχωμεν.
οὔτ᾽ αὐτός—‘Brasidas opposes one aspect of himself, i.e. his personal honesty, to another aspect not equally personal, his ability to help the Acanthians. My personal character ought not to be suspected by you, nor my power to assist you undervalued’ (Jowett). Note the force of the aor. in
θαρσήσαντας, ‘you must take courage’.
καὶ εἴ τις—a third point, Brasidas is not a partizan. For
αρα cf. ch. 8, 24.
μή τισι προσθῶ—‘to this or that faction’; the people might not unnaturally fear that Brasidas would establish an oligarchy in the interests of Sparta.
προστίθημι, ‘to make over’:
iii. 92,
Ἀθηναίοις προσθεῖναι σφᾶς αὐτούς, ‘to join, surrender’.
ἀσαφῆ...εἰ—‘doubtful, (as it would be) if’ etc.; the freedom would be
ἀσαφής on the supposition which
εἰ introduces. ‘I am not minded to offer you a dim and doubtful liberty by making the many the slaves of the few, or the few of the many’ (Arnold).
Analogous instances are not uncommon, e.g.
iii. 11,
μαρτυ- ρίῳ ἐχρῶντο μὴ ἂν τούς γε ἰσοψηφους ἄκοντας, εί μή τι ἠδίκουν οἷς ἐπῄεσαν ξυστρατεύειν: Dem. Con.
1266,
οὐδέποτ᾽ ἂν τὰ ψευδῆ μαρτυρεῖν ἠθέλησαν, εἰ μὴ ταῦθ᾽ ἑωρων. There is therefore no need to adopt the conjecture
οὐδ᾽ ἂν σαφῆ, or Classen's
οὐδ᾽ ἀσπαστήν, ‘welcome’.
νομίζω—according to Arnold=
νομίζω χρῆναι, but there is no need for this view here; ‘nor do I think the freedom I proffer you a vague one’ gives an excellent sense.
τὸ πάτριον παρείς—‘disregarding (your) hereditary usage’ or ‘institutions’; not ‘our usage’, a statement which would be not only untrue, but incredible.
παρίημι is not uncommon in the sense of passing over or omitting: if
Soph. O. T. 688,
τοὐμὸν παριείς, is rightly rendered ‘setting aside all consideration for me’, it gives an exact parallel: cf. Dem. Meid. 548,
μηδαμῇ παρεθῆναι, ‘to be let go, left in peace’.
τὸ πλέον—lit. ‘the more numerous element’, collective neuter. The ‘many’ and the ‘few’ have of course a political meaning.
χαλεπωτέρα—sc. such an
ἐλευθερλα: Krüger reads
χαλεπώτερα, sc. such a state of things: for neut. plur. cf. 1, 7,
πλωιμωτέρων ὄντων: so ch. 108, 10.
ἀντὶ...ἀντί—in two different senses ‘in return for’... ‘instead of’, both derived from the original notion of setting one thing over against another.
οἷς ἐγκλήμασι—‘the charges with which’, i.e. on the ground of which; see the beginning of the speech.
ὑποδείξας—the compound probably means starting with a display of virtue (ch. 4, 15 note), i.e. proclaiming a high-minded and generous policy. This the Lacedaemonians did; cf.
i. 69, where the Corinthians say that of Sparta,
τὴν ἀξίωσιν τῆς ἀρετῆς ὼς ἐλευθερων τὴν Ἑλλάδα φέρεται. On the other hand the Athenians professed a cynical contempt for all principles but the right of the strongest; see
i. 76.
κατακτώμενοι—corresponds alliteratively to
καταπολεμοῦμεν: the sense is, this is all that we should secure for ourselves.
τὸ μὲν γάρ—the neuters denote the two principles.
δικαιώσει—‘plea, justification’.
ἐπέρχεται—‘makes its attack’, or encroachment; a common meaning of
ἐπί in composition.
περιωπήν—‘circumspection’: elsewhere used in a literal sense, chiefly in Homer, e.g.
Od. x. 146,
ἀνήιον ἐς περιωπήν, ‘I went up to (a place commanding) a view round’.
