Harold North Fowler, Commentary on Thucydides Book 5

κατὰ σφᾶς αὐτούς: by themselves alone; κατά as in ii. 39. 11.

παραπλήσια καί: similia atque: about the same as. Cf. ii. 60. 20; iii. 14. 2.—ἀντέλεγον: the impf. because the negotiations were not yet at an end. We should, however, use the plpf. in English.

οὔτε ἄλλα δοκεῖ ἡμῖν, οὔτε ἀφαιρησόμεθα: “neither our opinion nor our intention has changed.” The theoretical and the practical aspects of the affair are placed side by side.— ἅπερ καί: see on c. 13. 7, ὧν κἀκεῖνος ἐπενόει.

ἑπτακόσια ἔτη : this statement, which is evidently not intended to be exact, carries us back to the time of the Dorian invasion. Conon, narrat. 36, mentions the Spartan Philonomus as founder of Melos soon after the Dorians took possession of Sparta. See Müller, Orchomenos, p. 317.

ἐκ τοῦ θείου: opp. to ἀπὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων, with reference to c. 105. 5 ff.; 11 ff. τὸ θεῖον is further explained by τύχη, and οἱ ἄνθρωποι by Λακεδαιμόνιοι, the whole being arranged in chiastic order. καὶ Λακεδαιμονίων, which St. rejects, should therefore be retained. καί introduces the specification of ἀνθρώπων, and is equiv. to et—quidem.

παρακαλούμεθα κτἑ.: first comes the proposal of the Melians as it affects themselves (φίλοι . . . μηδετέροις), then as it affects the Athenians. This is equiv. to ἡμῶν φίλων ὄντων ὑμῖν, πολεμίων δὲ μηδετέροις, ὑμᾶς ἐκ τῆς γῆς ἡμῶν ἀναχωρῆσαι.

φίλοι : nom. referring to the subj. of προκαλούμεθα. G. 136, N. 3 (a); H. 940.— 12. ἐπιτήδειοι: elsewhere this adj. has three terminations. Cf. c. 21. 7; 81. 9; viii. 11. 12.