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τρέφειν, infinitive of the imperfect=ὅτι ἔτρεφε; so also συστρατεύεσθαι. The allusion is to the ‘Corinthian’ war of 394 to 387 B.C. Polystratus is only otherwise known as having received a public honour on the request of Iphicrates (Dem. 20. 84). Iphicrates was one of the most distinguished of Athenian generals and a man of original talent. He dealt the first blow to the traditional supremacy of heavy-armed troops by organising a force of mercenaries with an equipment intermediate between that of hoplites and that of peltasts; and with his light troops in 390 B.C. he cut to pieces a Lacedaemonian μόρα (600 hoplites), an exploit loudly applauded by his countrymen. Chabrias superseded Iphicrates as Athenian general in the Corinthian war, but was more famous for his defeat of the Lacedaemonian fleet at Naxos in 376. He was killed in the siege of Chios (357 B.C.). ἀκούων, ‘by hearsay’; the sense does not allow us to regard the participle as taking the place of an object-clause. ἐνίκων may refer only to the defeat of the μόρα, as the imperfect of νικᾶν is often used of a single battle where we might have expected the aorist. ὑμῖν. The dative (of persons) is frequently used where a possessive genitive would stand and give almost the same sense. The difference is that the dative brings the person into relation with the verb instead of with the substantive—‘you have your mercenaries serving.’ τοὺς φίλους. Isocrates, speaking in 356 B.C. (8. 46), makes the same complaint. Such bodies of mercenaries used to plunder friendly territory as readily as hostile. ἐχθροὶ makes the hostility of Macedon a more fundamental matter than πολέμιοι, which simply implies the existence of war at the moment. παρακύψαντα, ‘after a mere glance.’ The word is almost confined to comedy (especially of peeping through a window), and suits the satirical character of the passage. πρὸς Ἀρτάβαζον, referring to Chares, who, when despatched by Athens against the rebellious allies in 356 B.C., enrolled himself and his mercenaries under A., then in rebellion against Artaxerxes, in order to secure pay, which Athens did not provide with regularity. It was perhaps the importance of Chares to Athens which led Demosthenes to throw the blame more on the men than on their commander in this passage. μᾶλλον, sc. ἢ πρὸς τὸν τῆς πόλεως πόλεμον. εἰκότως is frequently placed at the end of a sentence when a sentence in explanation of it follows.
Demosthenes: Philippics I, II, III with Introduction and Notes. Gilbert A. Davies, M.A. 1949. Cambridge University Press.
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