C.E. Graves, Commentary on Thucydides: Book 4

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CHAPTER XCVII

ἐπὶ τοὺς νεκρούς—‘for the dead’, i.e. to ask permission to remove them. αποστρέψας καὶ εἰπών—the second participle gives the reason for turning the Athenian herald back; we have a similar order in ch. 51, 2: so i. 1, ἀρξάμενος...καὶ ἐλπίσας: so i. 109, ξηράνας τὴν διώρυχα καὶ παρατρέψας ἄλλῃ τὸ ὔδωρ. καταστὰς ἐπί—so ch. 84, 10.

πᾶσι γὰρ εἶναι—the construction changes to the infinitive with the change of subject: cf. ch. 46, 22, ὅτι...εἴη...μέλλειν γὰρ δή. καθεστηκός—‘an established custom’: i. 98, παρὰ τὸ καθεστηκός.

ἐνοικεῖν—‘were living in it’ like an ordinary town: ii. 17, διὰ τὴν παράνομον ἐνοίκησιν. βεβήλῳ—a tragic word: other words in this chapter, such as ἄψαυστος and χέρνιψ, are poetical, and possibly characteristic of Boeotian speech.

ὃ ἦν ἄψαυστον σφίσι = ‘which we forbore to touch’. χέρνιβι χρῆσθαι—the inf. construction is explanatory of πρὸς τὰ ἱερά.

τοὺς ὁμωχέτας δαίμονας—cf. iii. 59, θεοὺς τοὺς ὁμοβωμίους ἐπιβοώμενοι.