Harold North Fowler, Commentary on Thucydides Book 5

Λακεδαιμόνιοι δέ κτἑ.: the narrative of c. 60. § 4 is resumed. The indignation which had already been expressed on the march (c. 60. 21) broke out with more violence ἐπειδὴ ἀνεχώρησαν.

ἐν μεγάλῃ αἰτίᾳ εἶχον : is repeated from c. 60. 10 and 21.— 4. ὡς οὔπω πρότερον αὐτοὶ ἐνόμιζον: sc. παρασχεῖν. “When such an opportunity was offered as they, for their part, thought had never been offered before.” Cf. c. 60. 25. οὔπω πρότερον occurs again in 13 and c. 64. 6. This repetition may be due to a lack of careful revision by the author. See App.— 5. λαβεῖν: ἀντὶ τοῦ συλλαβεῖν, ἀθροίζειν, Schol. Cf. c. 102. 2, κοινοτέρας τὰς τύχας λαμβάνοντα; vi. 86. 13, ὅταν καιρὸν λάβωσιν.

περὶ Ὀρχομενοῦ ἠγγέλλετο ἑαλωκέναι: a loose const. for Ὀρχόμενος ἠγγέλλετο ἑαλωκώς. See Kühn. 600, 3 β.

παρὰ τὸν τρόπον τὸν ἑαυτῶν : their usual mode of conduct is described in i. 132. 27, μὴ ταχεῖς εἶναι περὶ ἀνδρὸς Σπαρτιάτου κτἑ.

δέκα μυριάσι δραχμῶν : if these are Aeginetan drachmae, as is likely (see c. 47. 39), the sum amounts to about $24,840.

παρῃτεῖτο: deprecabatur. Cf. Plat. Rep. iii. 387 b; Dem. XXI. 58, παραιτήσομαι ὑμᾶς μηδὲν ἀχθεσθῆναί μοι.

ῥύσεσθαι : ἀπολύσειν, Schol. The word is seldom found elsewhere in this sense (but cf. Soph. O. T. 313), at least in Attic prose; but St.'s remark that this is prob. an expression of Agis, not of Thuc., makes any emendation unnecessary. In c. 75. 11 Thuc. uses ἀπολύεσθαι in the same sense.—στρατευσάμενος: see App.— ἤ: i.e. εἰ δὲ μή. Cf. i. 78. 13; 140. 8, βοηθεῖν, ἢ μηδὲ κατορθοῦντας τῆς ξυνέσεως μεταποιεῖσθαι. See Kr. Spr. § 69, 29, 1.—τότε: then, after he had tried to make good his fault. Cf. Dem. IV. I, εἰ δὲ μή, τότ᾽ ἂν αὐτὸς ἐπειρώμην.

ἐπέσχον: see on c. 46. 5; ii. 76. 4.—νόμον δὲ ἔθεντο κτἑ.: the wording of the new law is not given, but merely the application of it to King Agis. ἐν τῷ παρόντι, for the present, may imply that the law was passed for this special case, and was intended to apply only to Agis. But if Arist., Pol. ii. 9. 30, ἐξέπεμπον συμπρεσβευτάς, refers to this law, it must have been a general one.

δέκα γὰρ ξυμβούλους: a council of ten men was assigned to him, without whose consent or company he could not lead an army from the city. In this way his actions as general were under constant supervision. Advisers had accompanied Spartan admirals before (see ii. 85. 1; iii. 69. 7; 76. 6), but had never been forced upon an adult king in command of the army. Pleistoanax was accompanied by one or more on account of his youth. See Plut. Per. 22. See on ii. 85, 1, and Herbst, Jahrbb. 1858, p. 682 ff.

εἶναι: the inf. in rel. clauses occurs occasionally, as here, without a preceding inf. when provisions of a law are quoted. GMT. 92, 2, N. 3 (b); H. 957 a.— ἀπάγειν: is ordinarily used of the withdrawal of troops from foreign territory. Here it seems to show the strict nature of the new law. He was not allowed to lead troops away from the city. In other words, his power as general was entirely under the control of his advisers, whose authority did not cease with the ἐξάγειν but extended to the ἀπάγειν (and all subsequent action) after the army had left the city. It is then not necessary to follow Haase, Lucubr. Thuc. p. 88 ff., and read ἐκ τῆς πολεμίας for ἐκ τῆς πόλεως. Besides, as St. observes, if Thuc. had written ἐκ τῆς πολεμίας, we should expect τὴν στρατιάν with the art.