Charles D. Morris, Commentary on Thucydides Book 1

αἴτιον: often used as a pred. subst. without regard to gender and number of subj. Cf. ii.65.30; iii.82.53; 93. 6; iv.26.13; viii.9.11. —τοσοῦτον ὅσον: see on c. 9. 2.

ἀπορίᾳ: the preceding gen. serves for the art. See on c. 1. 11.

καὶ ὅσον κτἑ.: “and only so large as they expected would find its support in the country while carrying on the war.”

ἐπειδὴ δέ: see App.—ἐκράτησαν: Cobet, Mnem. 8, p. 69, adopts the conjecture of Thiersch, ἐκρατήθη- σαν. But the fact of one victory at least is necessary to support the general statement of 11, ὄντες ἀθρόοι . . . κρατοῦντες εἷλον. See a discussion of this question in Am. J. of Ph., V. p. 235 ff.—δῆλον δέ: sc. τὸ μάχῃ κρατῆσαι αὐτούς.

τὸ γὰρ κτἑ.: for otherwise (i.e. εἰ μὴ μάχῃ ἐκράτησαν, cf. c. 68. 18; 102. 7; Dem. XVIII. 47, 197) they could not have raised the rampart for the camp. For γάρ, cf. c. 2. 22; 3. 2. Kr. Spr. 57, 10, 14. The rampart here spoken of cannot be that of Hom. H 337, 443. Thuc. must have found the notice of this as well as of the γεωργία τῆς Χερσονήσου, 7, in some other poem than our Iliad. See Eustath. on Hom. E 4, and the Schol., who says, πρὸς γεωργίαν, ὧν ἡγεῖτο Ἀκάμας κατ᾽ Ἀντίμαχον. On the necessity of a victory as a preliminary to occupation of a country, cf. vi.23.6, οὓς πρέπει τῇ πρώτῃ ἡμέρᾳ, ᾗ ἂν κατάσχωσιν, εὐθὺς κρατεῖν τῆς γῆς. On the aor. with ἄν to express a past potential, see Aken, Tempus und Modus, § 73; Bäumlein, Modi, p. 148; Kühn. 392 a, 4.

φαίνονται δέ: δέ in apod. after a parenthesis, as in c. 18. 11; vii.33.7; viii.29.10. G. 227, 2; H. 1046 c.— οὐδ᾽ ἐνταῦθα: not even then, i.e. not even after their first and promising success were they able from lack of supplies to keep their army together and prosecute the siege with vigor. Cf. Aesch. Pr. 204.

λῃστείαν: cf. Hom. A 366; 1 328.—ᾗ καί: used before a comp. adv. emphasizes an inference. Cf. c. 25. 22; ii.2.21; iii.13.13; iv.1.14.

αὐτῶν: by its position = ipsorum, implies that the dispersion was due to their own needs.— τὰ δέκα ἔτη: the famous ten years.— βίᾳ: in the field, used by Thuc. in dat. only, as adv. to express any sort of violent effort, opp. to ὁμολογίᾳ or ξυμβάσει (agreement), v.17.14; vi.47.6; to δικαίῳ (judicial decision), iv.62.11; to ἀπάτῃ (deception), iv.86.5.

διέφερον: we might have expected the aor. διήνεγκον. But in unreal conditional clauses the impf. is used in Greek in opp. not only to a present state of things but to a past, if it is continued. Cf. Hdt. viii.30.5. GMT. 49, 2; H. 895 a.—ῥᾳδίως ἂν μάχῃ κρατοῦντες εἶλον: this clause states that the Greeks might have successfully maintained themselves in the field, as the indispensable condition of their prosecuting the siege; the second stage being expressed in 14, πολιορκίᾳ δὲ κτἑ. These two clauses do not state, as Jowett says, alternative means of taking the city (cf. c. 116. 12, where proved superiority on land is merely preliminary to a siege), but the two natural stages of the expedition. To answer πολιορκίᾳ δέ, we might have expected ῥᾳδίως μέν. But there are many cases in which a δέ clause has no expressed correlative particle. Cf. c. 12. 7 (where μέν is omitted by P., B., v. H. with best Mss.); 19. 2; 56. 6; 64. 2; 86. 5; iv.7.2; Dem. XIX. 80 (Φωκέων δέ); Plat. Rep. 340 d (τὸ δ᾽ οἶμαι); 398 a (εἴποιμεν δ᾽ ἄν). Kühn. 531, 3. κρατοῦντες includes the victory of 4, and others which would have ensued on the assumed condition. εἷλον may be explained with Herbst, Philol. 16, 288, with ellipse of τοὺς Τρῶας, “would have defeated the Trojans.” Cf. for this meaning, c. 110. 6; Xen. Hell. iii.5.1; Hipparch. 5. 14. Or perhaps the verb may be used intr., “would have proved superior,” after the analogy of ὁ λόγος αἱρεῖ. St. and v. H. omit εἷλον, but give no satisfactory explanation of δέ. The above explanation differs materially from that of Cl.

δἰ ἀχρηματίαν κτἑ.: this gives the conclusion of the inquiry announced in c. 9. 29, since τὰ πρὸ τούτων (i.e. τῶν Τρωικῶν) are disparaged in proportion as αὐτά γε ταῦτα (i.e. τὰ Τρωικά) are shown to be of less importance than fame would lead us to expect.

τῶν πρίν: see on c. 1. 4.

τοῖς ἔργοις: by the facts, i.e. by an unprejudiced inquiry into the truth of things.

κατεσχηκότος: Thuc. often places an attrib. partic. after a noun which is attended by other modifiers. Cf. c. 90. 7; 96. 8; iii.54.18; 56. 5; 67. 11. So Dem. xx. 76, ταῦτα ἐλάττω φανῆναι τῆς ἐν ἑκάστῳ νῦν περὶ αὐτοῦ δόξης ὑπαρχούσης. XVIII. 126.