Charles D. Morris, Commentary on Thucydides Book 1

ὅμως: i.e. although χαλεπὰ ὄντα κτἑ., c. 20. 1.

ἃ διῆλθον: obj. of νομίζων, with τοιαῦτα μάλιστα (see on c. 13. 11) as pred., pretty nearly such as I have described them. The same obj. must be supplied with πιστεύων, 4, and ἡγησάμενος, 7. Cl. regards these partics. as cond. prot. to ἁμαρτάνοι ἄν, but he has not observed that the neg. with the second is οὔτε—οὔτε, not μήτε—μήτε. The last two really express the cause of the writer's conviction of the correctness of his result, and only the first is cond., = εἴ τις νομίζοι, where τις may be regarded as a disguised ἐγώ (Kühn. 470, 1). What he feels to have been the cause of his own escape from error must be the condition of a similar escape on the part of any one who may pursue the same investigation.

ὡς λογογράφοι ξυνέθεσαν: see App.—ξυνέθεσαν: aor., refers to records of facts recently compiled by writers of prose, and probably points to Herodotus. It implies merely the collection and recording of a mass of facts, not, like ξυγγράφειν and the Lat. res componere, an elaborate inquiry and systematic treatment. Cf. c. 97. 10.—ἐπὶ τὸ...ἀληθέστερον : rather to tickle the ear in public recitation than to reach the truth. The repeated comp., as in Lat., expresses that of two qualities in the same object, one exists in larger measure. Cf. Hom. α 164; Hdt. iii.65.11; Plat. Theaet. 144 b. H. 645; Kühn. 543, 5. The adv. periphrasis with ἐπί as in c. 3. 6, and 9. 20. ἀκρόασις here and in c. 22. 14 of public recitations at festivals.

ὄντα ἀνεξέλεγκτα...ἐκνενικηκότα : these words are in formal agreement with ἅ διῆλθον, though referring specially to the misstatements of poets and chroniclers; stories which cannot be tested, and most of which have from lapse of time passed into the region of romance destitute of all credibility. For ἐκνικᾶν, cf. c. 3. 11.

ηὑρῆσθαι: as expressing the result of diligent inquiry (cf. c. 1. 11; 20. 1; 22. 12) stands first in its clause in contrast with κοσμοῦντες and ξυνέθεσαν.

ὡς...ἀποχρώντως : sufficiently considering their antiquity. ὡς suggests a natural limit to what it is fair to expect. Cf. c. 10. 34; iv.84.9; Kühn. 581, 5. Not usually, as here and Hdt. iv.81.4, with the restrictive inf. of iv.28.5 (τὸ ἐπὶ σφᾶς εἶναι); Plat. Prot. 317 a (κατὰ τοῦτο εἶναι). GMT. 100, N. 2; H. 956; Kühn. 479, 4.

καὶ ὁ πόλεμος κτἑ.: “and so, though men are apt, while they are engaged in war, to judge the present one always most important, but when it is over to look with greater wonder on those ancient events, still this war, which I am going to narrate, will show to persons who form their opinions on the basis of facts, that it proved really more important than they.” αὐτῶν = τῶν παλαιῶν. In this chapter the importance of the Peloponnesian war is compared with that of τὰ παλαιά (see on c. 1. 10), and the next chapter is not, as Kr. thinks, out of place, but comes in quite properly to contrast the modern critical methods with the uncertified traditions of early poets and logographers. With ἐν ᾧ ἂν πολεμῶσι cf. Plat. Phaed. 67 a, ἐν ᾧ ἂν ζῶμεν. GMT. 62; H. 914. For δηλώσει = δῆλος ἔσται, cf. ii.50.4; Soph. Ant. 20, 471. Kr. Spr. 56, 7, 5; Kühn. 482, 2.