C.E. Graves, Commentary on Thucydides: Book 5

ἀπολεξάμενος—so iv. 9, 2, with αὑτός. προστάξας—vi. 42, 1, στρατηγῷ προστεταγμένοι. ἀπολαβεῖν—‘cut off’, or catch in an isolated state; iv. 14, 2, οἱ ἄνδρες ἀπελαμβάνοντο.

ἀπὸ μὲν οἵας—the protasis introduced by μέν contrasts generally the Lacedaemonians with their Ionian foes, the apodosis with δέ deals with the particular enterprise which Brasidas was about to attempt. ὅτι. .ἐλευθέρας—sc. ἥκομεν ἀπὸ χώρας, the construction of the previous clause being repeated.

διὰ τὸ εὔψυχον—‘owing to its courage’; ii. 39, 2, πιστεύοντες τῷ εὺψύχῳ: so εὐψυχία, i. 84, 3; i. 121, 3. ὅτι Δωριῆς.. Ἴωσι—cf. vi. 77, 1, οὑκ Ἴωνες τάδε εἰσὶν.. ἀλλὰ Δωριῆς ἐλεύθεροι. Poppo on i. 124, 1 cites other similar passages.

ἀρκείτω βραχέως—‘let a brief statement of this suffice’. The perfect participle implies that the fact is to be considered settled once for all.

τὴν δὲ ἐπιχείρησιν—put first for emphasis and contrast. For the word cf. i. 33, 3, ἐς τὴν ὑμετέραν ἐπιχείρησιν, ‘with a view to assailing you’. ἐπιχειρῶ with dative is often used in the sense of attacking.

τό τε κατ᾽ ὀλίγον—the reading is not certain. The best manuscripts have τῷ τε, which leaves the sentence without a nominative to παράσχῃ. Poppo and others read τό τε: Classen considers the connexion of τε and καί out of place here, and reads τῳ (=τινι) τὸ κατ᾽ ὀλίγον. For κατ᾽ ὀλίγον, ‘in small divisions’, see note on iv. 10, 3. ἐνδεὲς—lit. ‘deficient’, i. e. a disadvantage.

οὐκ ἂν ἐλπίσαντας—‘because they never could have expected’; taking ἄν with the participle. Possibly however it is merely anticipatory, and belongs to the following subordinate construction where it is repeated; cf. Eur. Med. 941, ου<*>κ οῖδ̓ ἂν εἰ πείσαιμι. The following aorist optative with ω:ς α<*>´ν is a rare instance: ἐλπίζων ὡς with the future indicative occuis viii. 54, 1: so Eur. El. 919, η:´λπισας ὡς ἕξεις: cf. 11. 42, 5, πενίας ἐλπίδι. ὡς κἂν πλουτήσειαν. We have a similarly formed sentence in ii. 93, 2, οὔτε προσδοκία οὐδεμία, μὴ α_ν ποτε οἱ πολέμιοι ἐξαπιναίως οὕτως ἐπιπλεύσειαν.

κατὰ θέαν—see ch. 7, 13. With the whole phrase we may compare ii. 40, 1, πρὸς ἔργα τετραμμένοις.

καὶ ἅμα—connecting ἰδών with πρὸς τὴν ἑαυτοῦ δύναμιν. πρός—‘looking to, having regard to’, i. e. making the most of the force at his disposal. Brasidas did not feel strong enough to fight a pitched battle.

ἀπὸ τοῦ άντιπαραταχθέντος—‘by way of counterarray’. The use of the neuter participle for an abstract substantive, or as equivalent to τό with the infinitive, is peculiar to Thucydides among prose writers; e. g. i. 36, 1, τὸ μὲν δεδιὸς αυ:τοῦ τὸ δὲ θαρσοῦν: i. 142, 4, ἐν τῷ μὴ μελετῶντι, ‘in the want of practice’: ch. 102, 4, μετὰ τοῦ δρωμένου, ‘with action’: cf. infra τοῦ μένοντος. Krüger gives other instances. τῆς γνώμης τὸ μὴ νικηθέν, ii. 87, 2, is somewhat different: cf. τὸ ποθοῦν, Soph. Phil. 674; Trach 196. See Goodwin § 108; Madv. § 180.

κλέμματα—‘stratagems’; Dem. de Cor. 236, κλ<*>μμα Φιλίππου, ‘a trick of Philip's’. ἔχει=‘bring’ or ‘involve’: cf. note on iv. 1, 1. ἅ is cognate accusative after ἀπατήσας: cf. Soph. Aj. 2, πεῖράν τιν᾽ ἁρπάσαι. ἄν is repeated as in i. 36, 3: iv. 18, 3, etc.

ἐξ ὦν ἐμοὶ φαίνονται—‘from what they clearly look like to me’; the personal construction, such as is usual with δοκῶ, ἔοικα, λέγομαι etc.: Plat. Polit. 280 B, οὐκ ἔσπου τοῖς λεχθεῖσιν, ω:ς φαινει.

ἀνειμένῳ—‘unstrung’, dum sunt remissis animis: i. 6, 1, ἀνειμένῃ διαίτῃ, ‘easy, luxurious’: ii. 39, 2, ἀνειμένως διαιτώμενοι. Classen adopts Kruger's suggestion of ξυνταθῆναι for the following ξυνταχθῆναι. No doubt the converse of ἀνίημι ‘to slacken’ is ἐπιτείνω ‘to tighten’, which is commonly found metaphorically used like the Latin intendo. ξυντείνω is also used in a somewhat similar way, e.g. Plat. Phaed. 98D, as antithetical to χαλῶ: so συντεταμένος, id. Euthyd. 288D: Rep. 504 E: Xen Oec. ii. 18, γνώμῃ συντεταμένῃ. Here however ξυνταχθῆναι may well be a military metaphor, contrasting a ‘close and firm array’ of mind with the ‘loose and feeble’ condition implied by ἐν τῷ ἀνειμένῳ.

δόξαν—‘ideas’, lit. ‘expectation’; as in the well-known passage ii. 42 (fin.), ἅμα ἀκμῇ τῆς δόξης. Brasidas means that the Athenians' ideas would be all abioad, in the confusion caused by a sudden attack.

τοὺς μετὰ σεαυτοῦ—see the end of ch. 6 for the amount of the force under Brasidas and Clearidas.

ἐπεκθεῖν ἐπείγεσθαι—the only instance in Thucydides of the infinitive used for the 2nd person imperative. The construction, which has the subject in the nominative, is chiefly epic (Goodwin, § 101). The word ἐπεκθεῖν is used in iv. 34, 1, of soldiers in the field meeting the desultory attacks of light troops.

φοβηθῆναι—note the use of the aorist with ἐλπίς: iv. 9, 2 note. τὸ ἐπιόν—the usual collective neuter, like ὁπλιτικόν, ch. 6, 23: cf. ii. 45, 1, φθόνος τοῖς ζῶσι πρὸς τὸ ἀντίπαλον.

νομίσατε εἶναι τοῦ κ.τ.λ.—it is possible in this sentence to make αἰσχύνεσθαι and πείθεσθαι dependent on ἐθέλειν, in which case τό should be omitted before αἰσχύνεσθαι. More probably however the qualities of a good soldier are expressed by three coordinate infinitives. Classen makes this sense clearer by reading νομίσατε τρία εἶναι (with Stahl), in accordance with the scholiast's explanation, έκ τριῶν γίγνεται τὸ καλῶς πολεμεῖν. In similar sententious phrases a number is often named, e.g. i. 74, 1, τρία τὰ ὠφελιμώτατα παρεσχόμεθα, followed by three accusatives. Classen also repeats τό with πείθεσθαι, as being necessary for a clear coordinate sense.

τὸ ἐθέλειν—‘readiness’, ‘alacrity’.—αἰσχύνεσθαι—like αἰσχυνή, ‘self respect’, ‘a sense of honour’: ii. 43, 1, ἐν τοῖς ἔργοις αἰσχυνόμενοι. αἰδώς is used in the same way; see i. 84, 3, αἰδὼς σωφροσύνης πλεῖστον μετέχει αἰσχύνης δὲ εὑψυχία: cf. Hom. Il. v. 531, αἰδομένων ἀνδρῶν πλέονες σόοι ἠὲ πέφανται.

ἢ ἀγαθοῖς κ.τ.λ.—this sentence is complicated by the addition of accessory matter subordinate to the main ideas. Removing these accretions the outline stands thus:—（νομίσατε) ἢ έλευθερίαν τε ὑπάρχειν καὶ Λακεδαιμονίων ξυμμάχοις κεκλῆσθαι, ἢ Ἀθηναίων τε δούλοις（κεκλῆσθαι), τοῖς δὲ λοιποῖς Ἕλλησι κωλυταῖς γενέσθαι ἐλευθερώσεως. The choice put forward is between two pairs of things, all of which are in construction expressed as subjects of ὑπάρχειν. In the second half of the sentence the order is inverted by the figure called chiasmus.

ἀγαθοῖς γενομένοις—‘if you quit yourselves like men’. The speaker omits the offensive suggestion of κακοῖς γενόμενοις or the like in the corresponding clause. κεκλῆσθαι=‘the title of’: ii. 37, 1, δημοκρατία κέκληται: iii. 82, 7, ῥᾷον κακοῦργοι ὄντες δέξιοι κέκληνται. The perfect tense denotes that the name is permanently acquired.

Ἀθηναίων τε δούλοις—τε is omitted in some manuscripts. If we retain it, we must suppose that a corresponding καί was intended, but owing to the insertion of additional clauses τοῖς δὲ λοιποῖς is written instead. With δούλοις understand κεκλῆσθαι. It is possible to supply γενέσθαι, but the sense is not so forcible or the rhythm of the sentence so good.

ἢν τὰ ἀ̔ριστα...πράξητε—‘if you are most fortunate’: superlative of εὖ πράσσειν: vii. 71, 1, μὴ χείρω πράξωσι. Krüger quotes an instance of the adjective thus used from Xen. Anab. vi. 2, 8, πολλὰ καὶ ἀγαθὰ πράττειν. ἄνευ κ τ λ.—explanatory of τὰ ἄριστα. ἀνδραποδισμοῦ—selling or carrying off into slavery, while δουλεία is merely a general though invidious word for subjugation of any kind. As Arnold says, ‘δοῦλος is the general term, applying equally to political and domestic slavery; ἀνδράποδον applies exclusively to the latter’. ἀνδραποδισμός, like the following forms in ωσις, is active in force. θανάτωσις is not found elsewhere till Plutarch.

καὶ δουλείαν—this clause is loosely connected with the last but one. In construction δουλείαν is either to be taken with ὑπάρχειν, in conformity to the main outline of the sentence, or it is a cognate accusative connected with δούλοις, as if δουλεύουσι (dative participle) liad been written. In illustration of the latter view Jowett cites Plato, Rep. 579D, ἔστιν ἄρα ὁ τῷ ὄντι τύραννος τῷ ὄντι δοῦλος τὰς μεγίστας θ<*>πείας καὶ δουλείας. To this we may add the construction of ἀτιμίαν after ἀτίμους ὲποίησαν in ch. 34, 15.