E.C. Marchant, Commentary on Thucydides Book 1

[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.