Charles D. Morris, Commentary on Thucydides Book 1

ὁδοί: metaph. as in c. 69. 12. Cf. Tac. Ann. ii. 5, proeliorum vias.

ἀπόστασις: revolt, from the intr. ἀποστῆναι, yet no doubt con ceived as brought about by their enemies, and so παραίρεσις, ‘withdrawal’ (Plat. Rep. 573 e), stands as a strictly corresponding notion. A trans. meaning ‘seduction’ cannot be shown to belong to this or any other compound. Nearest is κατάστασις, viii.72.10. —μάλιστα οὖσα: showing its main effect in. Cf. iv.12.17.

ἐπιτειχισμός: or ἐπιτείχισις, the occupation of a stronghold on the frontier or in the territory of an enemy; which was carried out in 413 at Decelea. See vi.91.25; 93. 6; vii.18.29; 28. 13.— τῇχώρᾳ: governed by the verbal noun. Cf. c. 63. 9; 73. 1; 96. 10.

ἐπὶ ῥητοῖς: on predetermined conditions, according to fixed laws. Cf. c. 13. 4; 65. 7; 69. 9; 70. 10. The personification of ὁ πόλεμος is continued in the following.

τεχνᾶται: devises ways and means. Cf. iv.26.32.

πρὸς τὸ παρατυγχάνον: according to circumstances as they arise. παρα- has the effect of ἀεί, of what presents itself from time to time; therefore the sing. So the aor., iii.82.47; v.38.3.—ἐν ᾧ: wherein. See on c. 39. 11.—εὐοργήτως κτἑ.: in these phrases the personification of war is maintained. Here ὀργή has the general meaning of passionate excitement, as in iii.82.19; viii.83.16. εὐόργητος, properly observing due measure in passion, is nearly =σώφρων, ‘discreet,’ ‘sedate.’ It recurs only in late writers.

περὶ αὐτόν: with ὀργισθείς, as αὐτῷ with προσομιλήσας: who allows himself to be moved by passion in regard to war. To read περὶ αὑτόν in connexion with πταίει does not suit the sense, for mischances in war come from without; and we should have αὑτῷ. Cf. c. 69. 27; vi.33.30; Hdt. ix.101.13.—οὐκ ἐλάσσω πταίει: cf. iv.18.15; vi.33.30; fails not less (i.e. “is surer to fail”), sc. ‘than another.’ Cf. vi.36.16; vii.28.15. The same thought in iv. 18. § 4.

ἀντιπάλους: nearly matched, opponents with whom we could cope. Cf. ii.89.20.—οἰστόν: tolerable; classical only here and vii.75.46.

καὶ κατὰ πόλιν: with this πρὸς ἡμᾶς is to be supplied from the former clause, τε—καί uniting the two clauses as wholes.—ἔτι δυνατώτεροι:=μᾶλλον ἔτι δυνατοί. Cf. c. 68. 2.—καὶ ἀθρόοι: καί is intensive, vel universi; this is expanded in καὶ κατὰ . . . ἄστυ.— 12. ἄστυ : probably to be taken as a part of ἔθνος (cf. ii.9.16; iii.92.22); each particular town in Laconia, Boeo tia, etc.; or perhaps ἔθνος indicates the larger, and ἄστυ the smaller independent states, answering to καὶ μείζονι καὶ ἐλάσσονι πόλει in c. 125. 3.

δίχα: cf. c. 64. 6; vi.100.4. On advs. so used, see Kühn. 353, note 2; Kr. Spr. 62, 2, 4.

οὐκ ἄλλο τι: the retention of οὐ after the imv. is due to the fixity of the formula.

ἄντικρυς: to be connected closely with δουλείαν, downright slavery. So λίθοι λογάδην, iv.31.13; ξυσταδὸν μάχαι, vii.81.25. In viii.64.23, we have ἡ ἄντικρυς ἐλευθερία, with the art. in the usual way. Cf. Ar. Nub. 1120. Kühn. 462 m.

ὅ: but that this (see on c. 10. 20; 33. 13; 35. 15). This forms the subj. of λόγῳ ἐνδοιασθῆναι, “that it should be represented even in words as a possible occurrence.” ἐνδοιάζειν (from ἐν δοιῇ, Hom. I 230, as dubitare from duo, zweifeln from zwei), to waver between two possibilities (cf. c. 36. 9; vi.91.20), and so to look upon as conceivable.

ἐν ᾧ: cf. 6, here=εἰ δ̓ ὅμως τοῦτο ξυμβαίη.

ἢ δικαίως πάσχειν : either to suffer it deservedly, on account of some unexpressed guilt. This, as hardly probable, is placed first in order to lay stress on the second, the imputation of cowardice, which is then dwelt upon.—δοκοῖμεν ἄν: men would say of us χείρους φαίνεσθαι, that we showed ourselves worse. So there is no pleonasm in these verbs.

ἡμεῖς δέ: is so directly opp. to οἵ, that the clauses should not, as usual, be separated by a colon. The thought of τῶν πατέρων χείρους is developed on both sides, the relation of which we should naturally express by rendering οἵ, for while they. Cf. c. 70. § 1; 74. § 1.

αὐτό:=τὸ ἐλεύθερον εἶναι or τὴν ἐλευθερίαν, from ἠλευθέρωσαν. Cf. c. 68. 9.—τύραννον πόλιν: cf. ἀνδρὶ τυράννῳ, vi.85.1. The usual order in which the general term precedes the special (cf. c. 124. 16) is here, as in c. 96. 6, inverted, not to make τύραννον a pred., but to lay greater stress on the opposition to αὐτό (=ἐλευθερίαν); and allow a despotic state to establish itself in Hellas (cf. c. 124. 15). To this is opposed in parataxis τοὺς δὲ . . . καταλύειν, “while we consider it our business,” etc. Cf. c. 86. § 2. On the fact, see c. 18. 3. The Lacedaemonian policy is regarded as determining that of the whole confederacy.

μονάρχους: this poetic word chosen probably as a variation of τυράννους. Cf. Aesch. Prom. 324; Ar. Eq. 1330; Plat. Rep. 575 a.

τάδε: such policy.—τριῶν: as δυοῖν in c. 33. 23, before a disjunctive enumeration leaves the choice open. It is different in iii.40.7 with conjunctive particles.—ξυμφορῶν: in the unusual sense of faults to which men are liable.—ἀπήλλακται: can be clear of. Cf. c. 143. 14; iii.63.17; viii.2.21.

οὐ γὰρ δὴ...κεχωρήκατε : this sentence is not to be taken, as it usually is, as a serious assertion, “for it is not certainly an avoidance of these faults if you have betaken yourselves to contempt”; but just as οὐ γὰρ δή is used in v.111.3, it implies ironically under the appearance of disbelief a strong suspicion; “for it may be hoped that you have not, while avoiding these faults, fallen into the far worse one of despising your enemy.”

ἐπὶ τὴν...καταφρόνησιν : cf. viii.64.23. For the paronomasia, cf. c. 33. 26; 37. 16.

τὸ ἐναντίον ὄνομα: for the accusative, with a pass. verb of naming, cf. ii.37.3; iv.64.12. Kühn. 411, note 7.

μετωνόμασται: has had its name changed, i.e. by those who judge rightly of the matter.