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And acts again which are of such a magnitude (τηλικαῦτα) and of such a kind as no one (else) would ever think of doing (supply ποιήσειε); for these too (like the preceding) are not guarded against, (viz. novel and audacious attempts and enterprises which people are unprepared for, and which therefore take them by surprise): for it is only against customary offences, just like sicknesses, that people are on their guard; against diseases hitherto unknown, (which no one has ever yet had), no one ever takes precautions. ἀῤῥώστημα, ἀῤῥωστία, ἀῤῥωστεῖν properly denote ‘want of strength’, bodily weakness, and hence any infirmity, such as sickness. Hence Thucydides applies it, III 15, to want of strength of will, or of inclination, ἀῤῥωστία τοῦ στρατεύειν; and VII 47, to weakness of mind; the mental prostration or despondency which prevailed amongst the Athenian troops before Syracuse: and again in VIII 83, to Tissaphernes' weakness of will or inclination, as shewn in his ‘remissness’ or ‘disinclination’ to supply pay to the crews of the Peloponnesian vessels; which Arnold well expresses by ‘he was sick of it’. In Plat. Rep. II 359 B it represents nothing more than the defect or weakness of a faculty. In Xenophon the three words usually denote some form of disease or sickness: Demosth. Ol. II p. 24. 5, ὥσπερ γὰρ ἐν τοῖς σώμασιν ἡμῶν, ἕως μὲν ἂν ἐῤῥωμένος τις, οὐδὲν ἐπαισθάνεται τῶν καθ᾽ ἕκαστα σαθρῶν, ἐπὰν δὲ ἀῤῥώστημά τι συμβῇ, πάντα κινεῖται, κἂν ῥῆγμα κἂν στρέμμα κἂν ἄλλο τι τῶν ὑπάρχοντων σαθρὸν , any disease or other imperfection and unsoundness of body, including fractures, sprains, &c.

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