Charles D. Morris, Commentary on Thucydides Book 1

καὶ ἅμα κτἑ.: “besides the good intentions of which we are conscious, we have as good a right as any to find fault with you.” What follows, however, relates rather to the character of the Lacedaemonians than to the justification of the Corinthians.— εἴπερ τινὲς καὶ ἄλλοι: cf. c. 142. 24; iv.55.12; Hdt. ix.27.26; Plat. Phaed. 58 e; 63 c; 67 b; Xen. Cyr. iii.3.42. On the καί in such formulae, see Kühn. 524, 2, 3; Kr. Spr. 69, 32, 13.

τοῖς πέλας: see on c. 32. 16; here specially of the Lacedaemonians.

τῶν διαφερόντων: the points of difference, i.e. between you and the Athenians, to be presently stated; so ii.43.27. But P. and Kr. interpret, ‘the interests at stake,’ as in vi.92.23, like τὰ διάφορα in c. 68. 8. The former sense is confirmed by 4, πρὸς οἵους . . . ἔσται. Bonitz, Beiträge zur Erklärung des Thukydides, p. 7.— αἰσθάνεσθαι - ἐκλογίσασθαι : have for obj. the following dependent interr. clause πρὸς οἵους κτἑ. The use of πώποτε shows that ἐκλογίσασθαι represents a real past tense, to have calculated.

πρὸς οἵους καὶ ὅσον διαφέροντας: i.e. οἷοι καὶ ὅσον . . . διαφέροντες οἱ Ἀθηναῖοί εἰσιν, πρὸς οὓς ὁ ἀγὼν ἔσται. Cf. c. 73. 18. For examples of similar blending of a question and a dependent sentence, see Kühn. 587, 6.

ὑμῖν: depends on ἔσται. On its emphatic position, see on c. 68. 1.— ὅσον καὶ ὡς πᾶν: how far, I should say how utterly. Sh.

οἱ μέν γε: see on c. 40. 15. The opposition is thus strongly marked. —νεωτεροποιοί: the adj. only here in Thuc.; the abstract noun in c. 102. 11.

ἐπινοῆσαι κτἑ.: in the following delineation, 10 aor. infs. alternate with 7 pres. infs. (aor. ἐπινοῆσαι, ἐπιτελέσαι, ἐπιγνῶναι, ἐξικέσθαι, πρᾶξαι, πιστεῦσαι, ἐπελθεῖν, βλάψαι, τυχεῖν πράξαντες, πρᾶξαι; pres., σῴζειν, οἴεσθαι, κτᾶσθαι, πράσσειν, τὴν ἐπιχείρησιν ποιεῖσθαι, κτᾶσθαι, ἡγεῖσθαι). The latter designate enduring conditions or continued activities; the former, activities with a definite direction or ends attained. It will be observed, too, how the inf. with a neg. (or with a neg. notion, as ἐνδεᾶ, 12, ὀλίγα, 22) is regularly in the aor. (complexive), unless resistance or refusal is implied, as in 13 (“you refuse to believe that you will ever”).— ἐπινοῆσαι: to form plans. Cf. 21; ii.11.11; v.13.7; Ar. Eccl. 247.— ὀξεῖς: quick, defined by the dependent infs. But as applied to the Lacedaemonians, it must be taken ironically, or by zeugma implying the general sense ὑμεῖς οἷοί ἐστε.

ἃ ἂν γνῶσιν : whatever they have decided. So usually in aor. See App.

ἐπιγνῶναι: to adopt further measures. Cf. ii.65.48; iii.57.6. In c. 132. 35 it means ‘find out.’

οὐδέ: the two preceding clauses (σῴζειν and ἐπιγνῶναι, connected by τε καί) give the positive and neg. sides of the Laconian conservatism, and are in the same const. as ἐπινοῆσαι; but the neg. οὐδέ shows that this last clause is conceived independently of the former, as if Thuc. had said οὐ μέντοι ὀξεῖς ἐστε οὐδὲ τἀναγκαῖα ἐξικέσθαι. This last verb is usually intr., as in Pl. Prot. 311 d; Xen. Mem. i.4.17; ii.3.19, but is here, carry out, attain. So in 21, ἐξελθεῖν has a neut. pl. obj. Cf. iii.108.9; Soph. Tr. 506, ἐξῆλθον ἄεθλ᾽ ἀγώνων.

αὖθις: further, implying here not repetition, but advance. Cf. iii.106.8; vi.90.5.

τολμηταί...κινδυνευταί : Thuc. seems to have coined several verbal substs. of this form: μελλητής, ἀποδημητής, 14; εἰκαστής, c. 138. 15; διαλλακτής, iv.60.4,—all expressing bent, habituation to a course, like Latin nouns in -tor. Here παρὰ δύναμιν (beyond the measure of one's strength, implying rashness) and παρὰ γνώμην (beyond the limits which prudence would set, implying recklessness) are opposed to the clauses which state the defects of the Lacedaemonians, τῆς δυνάμεως ἐνδεᾶ πρᾶξαι and τῆς γνώμης μηδὲ τοῖς βεβαίοις πιστεῦσαι.

ἐπὶ τοῖς δεινοῖς : in the face of dangers, propositis periculis. Cf. c. 143. 8; v.90.6; vi.20.3; Dem. IV. 20, ἐπὶ τῷ πράττειν οὐδὲ τὰ μικρὰ ποιεῖτε.

καὶ μὴν καί: introducing forcibly a further statement, iam vero. Cf. c. 142. 1, καὶ μὴν οὐδέ.

ἄοκνοι : not here ‘indefatigable in endurance,’ but resolute for action, as in c. 74. 5.

τῇ ἀπουσίᾳ: by their absence from home.—ἄν τι κτᾶσθαι: the pres. inf. with the pregnant τι, as in 29, ἀεὶ κτᾶσθαι, implies a never-satisfied eagerness to press forward; while τὰ ἑτοῖμα, 16, a strengthened ὑπάρχοντα, means possessions lying ready for use, the loss of which is feared. Cf. iv.61.2; vi.9.16.

ἐπελθεῖν: whether abs. or with a dat. has in Thuc. so generally the meaning of hostile advance (cf. c. 2. 8; 18. 18; 62. 10; 69. 12, 24; 123. 14; 124. 18; ii.36.14; 39. 12; 89. 22; iii.84.7, etc.) that it expresses the aggressive spirit, which the Lacedaemonians are said to dread, more distinctly than ἐξελθεῖν, proposed by Ullrich and approved by St. (Jahrb. 1863, p. 413). In 22, ἐπελθόντες is used of the Athenians in the same sense of agression.

κρατοῦντές τε: from this point, when the inferential τε marks the passage from the general to its application in particulars, the delineation confines itself to the Athenians, and is calculated to make a lively impression on the Lacedaemonians.

ἐπ᾽ ἐλάχιστον ἀναπίπτουσιν: clearly opp. to ἐπὶ πλεῖστον ἐξέρχονται (they pursue their victory to the furthest extent, cf. Plat. Prot. 361 c) and to be taken in the pass. sense of πίπτειν =βάλλεσθαι, they allow themselves to be forced back, they fall back, the least. Cf. Bonitz, ibid. p. 8 ff.—ἔτι δέ: this bravery, always pressing forward, never frightened back, does not merely lead the Athenians to evernew results; still more effective is the clear consciousness with which they put all powers of body and mind at the service of their country.

τῇ γνώμῃ: the mind and all its powers, opp. to σώματα. Cf. ii.38.2, “A somewhat forced antithesis between ἀλλοτριωτάτοις and οἰκειοτάτῃ is the veil of a noble sentiment. Their bodies they throw away, as freely as though they did not belong to them, in the service of their country; their minds they jealously preserve as the thing dearest to them, that they may use them on her behalf.” Jowett.

καί...μέν...δέ...δέ : this unlimited devotion of the Athenians exhibits itself in three aspects, as regards (1) aims not completely carried out (ἃ μὲν ἂν . . . ἡγοῦνται); (2) aims perfectly attained (ἃ δ᾽ ἂν . . . πράξαντες); (3) aims which have not succeeded (ἢν δ᾽ ἄρα...τὴν χρείαν). There must not therefore be a full point before ἢν δ᾽ ἄρα. See St. Jahrb. 1863, p. 473-4.

ἐξέλθωσιν: (so the best Mss. for ἐπεξέλθωσιν) here and iii.108.9 with a neut. obj. of undefined extent (ἃ—ἄν, τὸ πολύ) has a trans. meaning, bring to an issue. See on 9.— οἰκεῖα στέρεσθαι ἡγοῦνται: the acc. with στέρεσθαι does not occur elsewhere, but may be tolerated as inner obj. from a neut. adj. See on c. 32. 4. Kr. Spr. 47, 13, 10. στέρεσθαι seems to be=ἐστερῆσθαι, but “verbs of privation connote feeling.” Gildersleeve on Pind. Py. VII. 22. “In failing to attain an object, they consider that they have lost what was really their own.”

ὀλίγα πρὸς τὰ μέλλοντα: cf. c. 6. 15; 10. 8, 33; “only little in comparison with what remains to be done.” So τυχεῖν πράξαντες instead of πρᾶξαι (GMT. 24, N. 1; H. 984) points to the unsatisfying character of the result: “that they have indeed succeeded this time.”

ἢν δ᾽ ἄρα: and if after all it turn out that.—του: belongs to σφαλῶσιν rather than to πείρᾳ. Cf. ii.43.12. The best Mss. have καί του and not του καί. For the force of καί, see on c. 15. 7.

ἀντελπίσαντες: occurs here only, forming new hopes in compensation for failure.—ἐπλήρωσαν: empiric aor. See on c. 69. 31.— χρείαν: want, lack. Cf. iii.59.9.— 25. ἔχουσι...καὶ ἐλπίζουσιν : an inversion of the natural order for greater effectiveness; “possession and hope in this case coincide.”—ὁμοίως: see on c. 58. 7.

ὧν: the gen. assimilated to the obj. of ἐπιχείρησιν. Cf. vii.43.12.

μετὰ πόνων: with, i.e. not without, constant toil.

αἰῶνος μοχθοῦσι: αἰών (in Thuc. here only) and μοχθεῖν (once more in ii.39.23), unusual expressions chosen to enforce the close of the delineation.

μήτε ἑορτὴν ἄλλο τι ἡγεῖσθαι: the hyperbole usual in proverbial expressions, the only thing they deem a festival. Cf. iii.30.12; vii.77.25. The Schol. makes this an allusion to the refusal of the Spartans to set forth during festivals.

οὐχ ἧσσον...ἤ : this combination emphasizes the former member so much that the latter is often practically denied. Cf. οὐ τοσοῦτον— ὅσον, and οὐ μᾶλλον（τὸ πλεῖον）ἤ. See on c. 9. 2, 21. Here it is represented that ἀσχολία ἐπίπονος is certainly not regarded by the Athenians as a misfortune, while ἡσυχία ἀπράγμων is so regarded.

ἐπὶ τῷ...ἐᾶν : the infs. with ἐπὶ τῷ after πεφυκέναι represent the constant object of their whole existence. The inf. alone would indicate only adaptation in the special case, as in ii.64.17; iii.45.8; iv.61.20.

ἐᾶν: with this ἔχειν ἡσυχίαν must be supplied, as must a corresponding partic. with ὁρᾶν, c. 78. 10; 80. 2.