E.C. Marchant, Commentary on Thucydides Book 1

6. οὖσαι—sc. φαίνονται.

τὰ πρότερα—the adverbial accus., in plur, is common in Thuc., but is seldom found in other prose anthors.

8. βιαζόμενοι—the pres. and imperf. of this verb in a passive sense are far less common in other prose authors than in Thuc.

ὑπό τινων αἰεὶ πλειόνων—what is noticeable here is that αἰεί (‘from time to time’) occurs with τινων, and not with τῶν, which—as the older critics note—is the usual form of expression.

[2] 9. τῆς γὰρ ἐμπορίας κτλ—see note on p. 1 l. 6. The causes to which the readiness to migrate are ascribed are (1) absence of commerce and intercommunication: τῆς γὰρ ... θαλάσσης: (2) low state of agriculture and absence of capital sunk in the land: νεμόμενοί τε ... φυτεύοντες: (3) absence of demand for anything beyond the necessaries of life, which could be procured anywhere: τῆς τε ... ἐπικρατεῖν.

ἐπιμειγνύντες—the mid. is used in the same sense, e.g. in c. 146. At a period when the tribes of Greece regarded one another as enemies, it was impossible that ἐπιμιξία should exist, ἐπιμιξία being based upon treaties. In later times ἐπιμιξία terminated as soon as a state of war existed.

10. διά—the sea as the medium of intercourse.

11. νεμόμενοι—the word is used of enjoyment of profits derived, which may be combined with occupation. The following participles—ἔχοντες, φυτεύοντες—are circumstances explanatory of the degree of ‘enjoyment’ attained. (νέμεσθαι ὡς τὸ πολὺ τὸ λαμβάνειν πρόσοδον παρὰ Θουκυδίδῃ, Photius.)

τὰ αὑτῶν—what they had acquired by adverse possession.

12. ὅσον—i.e. τοσοῦτον, ὅσον, where ὅσον = ὥστε, and is assimilated to the adverbial accus. τοσοῦτον.

ἀποζῆν—this word occurs nowhere else in Attic, but is used by late writers (Lucian, Aelian, etc.), some at least of whom think it means to live poorly, inferring the sense implied in this passage.

περιουσίαν κτλ.—had they accumulated stores for the purpose of barter, and had they planted trees, it would have been less easy to migrate.

13. ἄδηλον ὄν—accus. abs.

14. ἐπελθὼν καὶ ἀτειχίστων ἅμα ὄ.—(1) alternative explanations, seldom desirable, are here clearly called for; (2) taking ἀτειχίστων ὄντων first: the sense is, ‘as they were without walls.’ The simplest way is to suppose this masc. and dependent on ἀφαιρήσεται. This involves making καὶ ... άμα almost equivalent to ἄλλως τε καί: καί, we are told, does not = ‘and,’ but καὶ ... ἄμα = ‘particularly,’ as in 102. 3 and elsewhere. But (3) this makes it impossible to explain why τις ... ἅλλος, which go together, are separated, because ἐπελθὼν ... ὄντων is not then one expression. (4) This objection is diminished if καὶ ... ὄντων is taken as a parenthetical gen. abs., either (a) masc., with αὐτῶν supplied, or (b) neut., with subj. supplied from context, like πλωιμωτέρων ὄντων c. 7. (5) The objection disappears if καί = ‘and,’ ἐπελθὼν καὶ ἀ. ἅμα ὄντων giving the two circumstances leading to loss—ἀφαιρήσεται. Though one circumstance is modal—ἐπελθών—the other causal, it is like Thuc. to connect them by καί.

15. ἀναγκαίου—of what will just suffice, as in necessarius cibus. ἀναγκαῖος is frequently fem, in Plato. βίαιος and βέβαιος always have two terminations in Thuc.

16. πανταχοῦ—anywhere. The sense any frequently belongs to πᾶς and words front it.

17. δι᾽ αὐτό—accordingly; Thuc, often uses αὐτό（-ά) in reference to a previous statement

μεγέθει—of the number of inhabitants, as in c. 10.

18. παρασκευῇ—naval and military resources, as distinct from κατασκευή, the external adornment of a city.

[3] 19. ἡ ἀρίστη—cf. τῆς γῆς οὐ πολλὴν ἔτεμον 6.7. The attraction is most common with πολύς, but is fairly frequent with other adjectives.

20. νῦν ... καλουμένη belongs to both nouns. In early times the districts had no general name.

22. Ἀρκαδίας—the exemption was due to the isolated character of Arcadia, the consequence of its mountams. ἄρκτος, Bear-land; cf. ἄρκειος. The Arcadrans were unaffected by the Dorian migration They prided themselves on being autochthones (cf. Xen. Hell. 7.1. 23), and on their primeval antiquity (cf. L & S. under προσέληνος).

κράτιστα—best, the regular meaning of κράτιστος when applied to land.

[4] 23. ἀρετήν—fertility. When Greece was in the village stage, (1) the inhabitants of some districts grew (comparatively) wealthy, and as a consequence there were disputes between the ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’; (2) these fertile districts excited the cupidity of other clans.

25. μᾶλλον—more than communities whose land was not so fertile.

[5] 26. γοῦν—at any rate the immunity of Attica was due to its barrenness; it is therefore likely that the troubles of other districts were due to their fertility.

τοῦ ἐπὶ πλεῖστον, ‘the remotest time.’ ἐπὶ πλεῖστον, adverbial (‘extending farthest back’), has the art. like τὸ πρίν, etc.

τὸ λεπτόγεων—(1) the constant use of neut. adj. or partic. for a subst. is a feature of Thuc.'s style; (2) the soil of Attica is in general stony and dry. The Attic Plain is watered by the Ilissus and Cephisus, but in summer the former is almost dry and the latter “μειοῦται τελέως”: the land yields a return only to diligent cultivation. Of course in these early times the land was not setentifically dealt with; and it is noteworthy, as bearing on Thuc.'s point, that it looks more barren than it is.

[6] 28. παράδειγμα—the meaning of this term in Greek rhetoric is not merely ‘example,’ but ‘an example used to support an argument.’

τόδε—referring to the sentence that follows, ἐκ γάρ κτλ.

τοῦ λόγου—explained by διά, etc.

29. διὰ τὰς μετοικίας κτλ.—that it was owing to the habit of settling elsewhere (to which I have referred) that Greece in other respects (besides population and security) had not advanced so fast (as Attica). μετοικίας is used exactly as in Aesch. Eum. 1019, where the Furies refer to their μετοικία to and in Athens. 1. That ἐκ γάρ κτλ. explains τόδε is proved by the usage of Thuc. 2. διὰ ... αὐξηθῆναι is beset with difficulties. With the MS. reading τὰς μετοικίας ἐς τὰ ἄλλα three explanatious have been proposed: (a) ‘Attica did not grow in other respects so fast as in population.’ But this does not fall in with the general line of the argument. (b) ‘Attica through the presence of μέτοικοι advanced much more (μὴ ὀμοίως) in other respects.’ But neither is this the argument, nor is there any proof that μὴ ὁμοίως can in such a connexion as this mean much more. (c) With regard to the rendering given above, it is denied that Greece can be the subject of αὐξηθῆναι. But, if we examine c. 2 as a whole, this does not appear impossible. The chapter deals with the early condition of Greece in general—ἡ νῦν Ἑλλάς καλουυένη—the smallness of the communities (οὔτε μεγέθει πόλεων ἴσχυον) and their weakness. To these conditions the very fertility of the soil contributed. Attica, which was barren, was an exception in both respects. It did not lose inhabitants by στάσις: it did not excite the cupidity of strangers. On the other hand, strangers settled in Attica because it offered security; and thus the population of Attica was still further increased, and it was able to colonise. These last facts lend further support to my general argument (ὁ λόγος), viz. that the weakness of the early Greeks in all respects is largely accounted for by the shifting nature of the population. ἡ Ἑλλάς is in the writer's mind throughout. ἐς τὰ ἄλλα is explained by many ‘with reference to its other parts’; but it more naturally means in other respects than those points to which I have specifically referied. A striking example of this (ex contrario) is the colonising energy of Attica, the consequence of freedom from migration. Some take ὲς τὰ ἄλλα with μετοικίας—migrations to other parts; but τά is then wrong. Ullrich's emendation, according to which τὰ ἄλλα, other parts of Greece, is subject of αὐξηθῆναι—see crit. 11.—is generally accepted; but it is not absolutely necessary.

2. πολέμῳ—referring to ὑπὸ ἀλλοφύλων ἐπεβουλεύοντο.

3. οἱ δυνατώτατοι—limiting apposition to οἱ ἐκπίπτοντες. This kind of apposition is common in Thuc.—The most conspicuous instance is that of the Alcmaeonidae from Pylus.

ὡς βέβαιον ὄν—taken as (1) accus. abs., with ἀναχωρεῖν παρ᾽ Ἀθηναίους implied; (2) by Classen as governed by παρά, in a loose apposition to Ἀθηναίους. The second, though loose in grammar, gives a better sense.

4. πολῖται γιγνόμενοι—the imperf. partic, points to the many instances in which citizenship was bestowed. Of course this system of conferring civic rights belongs to a time when only the Eupatrids had any political power. They admitted new families freely. In later days, on the contrary, when Athens had attained power and the demos ruled, the Ecclesia was very jealous of the citizenship. Yet this welcome of political exiles remained an houourable tradition, as we see from the plays of Euripides

εὐθὺς ἀπὸ παλαιοῦ with ἐποίησαν, but εὐθύς belongs to ἀπὸ π., being equivalent to ἀρξάμενοι εὐθύς: cf. c. 146 and 142. 7.

7. ἐξέπεμψαν—sc. οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι. The colonising activity of Attica is supposed to have begun in the eleventh cent. B.C.