Charles D. Morris, Commentary on Thucydides Book 1

ηὗρον: see on c. 1. 11.—χαλεπὰ...πιστεῦσαι : Sh. renders, albeit difficult for one, hardly allowing one, to give credit to every link in the chain of argument; the const. being that by which in Greek an adj. is used pers. when the impers. is more natural to us (H. 944; Kühn. 477 d) = καίπερ χαλεπὸν ὂν ἐμοὶ πιστεῦσαι αὐτὰ παντὶ ἑξῆς τεκμηρίῳ (cf. Eur. Hel. 710, λόγοις δ᾽ ἐμοῖσι πίστευσον τάδε). It is probable that πᾶν ἑξῆς τεκμήριον means the series of τεκμήρια actually alleged by Thuc.; but Cl. thinks it means every point of evidence, without exception, which presents itself. We find ἑξῆς with πᾶς in the sing. only in Dem. IX. 69, τότε χρὴ καὶ ναύτην . . . καὶ πάντ᾽ ἄνδρα ἑξῆς προθύμους εἶναι; in pl. in vii.29.21 and Dem. xxiv. 70.

ἀκοάς: here in objective sense, the things heard. So ii.41.8 (cf. Tac. Ann. iv. 11, ut falsas auditiones depellerem); elsewhere in Thuc. subjective, ‘hearing,’ ‘apprehension.’ Cf. c. 4. 1; 23. 10; iii.38.31; iv.126.15, 33; vi.17.23.— σφίσιν: in a dependent sentence refers to the subj. of the primary. Cf. c. 115. 23; iii.108.14; vi.32.9.— 4. ὁμοίως: i.e. as much as if the events had taken place among strangers, when a failure to examine would be more excusable. Cf. vii.68.14.

γοῦν: see on c. 2. 18; so for instance.—τὸ πλῆθος...ἀποθανεῖν : the popular belief which Thuc. opposes here, and more fully in vi. 55, was probably founded on ballads and erroneous views about the statues in honour of Harmodius and Aristogeiton. Hdt. v. 55; vi. 123 agrees with Thuc. The principal stress lies on τύραννον ὄντα, just as in 7 πρεσβύτατος ὤν gives the reason for ἦρχε. So in 9, ὑποτοπήσαντες stands at the head of its clause, since the failure was due to this mistaken suspicion.

ὑποτοπήσαντες: a rare verb, used by Thuc. only in aor., and only in partic., except in iii.24.4 inf. (for in v.35.14; viii.76.6, ὑπώπτευον is the true reading). Hdt. vi.70.4; ix.116.15 has aor. pass. with act. meaning. The mid. occurs in Ar. Ran. 958; Thesm. 496; and in Lys. IX 4.—καὶ παραχρῆμα: at the very moment of execution (precisely παρὰ τὸ χρῆμα), a more exact definition than ἐκείνῃ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ, on that (famous) day.— 10. ἐκ τῶν...μεμηνῦσθαι : Sh. renders, that information had been conveyed from the body of their fellow-conspirators. ἐκ would not have been joined with the sing. Cf. iii.69.3; vi.36.9. ἐκ is found often in Hdt. and the Att. poets for ὑπό with pass. H. 798 c; Kühn. 430, 2.

δράσαντάς τι καὶ κινδυνεῦσαι: to do something if they must risk their lives. Sh. Cf. iii.53.14; iv.11.20. Tac. Hist. i. 21, acrioris viri esse merito perire.

περιτυχόντες: περιτυγχάνειν dicitur, qui non quaerens, ἐπιτυγχάνειν, qui quaerens in aliquid cecidit. Herm.—Λεωκόριον: the sanctuary of the daughters of Leos, an old Attic king, who in a famine were sacrificed for the state. It was in the inner Ceramicus near the temple of Appollo Patrous.

τὴν Παναθηναϊκὴν πομπήν: on the 24-29 Hecatombaeon (July).

καὶ οἱ ἄλλοι: i.e. not the Athenians only.

οἴονται: used only here with obj. acc. Elsewhere with inf. or abs. Cf. ii.54.10; iv.64.13.— ὥσπερ...πώποτε : the statements here denied by Thuc. are apparently made by Hdt. vi.57.30, on the double vote of the Lacedaemonian kings, and ix.53.9, on the Πιτανάτης λόχος; and we can hardly doubt that Thuc. has those passages in view. Cobet, Mnem. 12, p. 158, explains that Hdt. means that the one nearest kinsman of the kings cast two votes for the kings, if both absent, and a third for himself, and that the pl. τοὺς μάλιστα προσήκοντας is used because this kinsman would not always be the same. Paus. iii.16.9, speaks of a κώμη Πιτάνη, as Hdt. iii. 55 calls it δῆμος. On this question see Kirchhoff, Monatsb. d. Berl. Ak., Jan., 1878. The unusual expression ψήφῳ προστίθεσθαι (quite unlike c. 40. 18, ψῆφον προστιθέμεθα) probably means that the kings voted last. See Schömann, Antiquities of Greece, I. p. 233. The neg. μή, because this clause is appos. to πολλὰ ἄλλα. See Am. J. of. Ph. I. p. 49.

τὰ ἑτοῖμα: what lies nearest at hand, taken without scrutiny, and therefore having no guarantee of accuracy.