Charles D. Morris, Commentary on Thucydides Book 1

γοῦν: adduces a proof for a particular case; see on c. 2. 18. “You Lacedaemonians, for example, act in the same way, look after your own interest just as much.”

ἐπὶ τὸ...καταστησάμενοι : cf. c. 19. 3, σφίσιν αὐτοῖς μόνον ἐπιτηδείως ὅπως πολιτεύσουσι θεραπεύοντες.

ἐξηγεῖσθε : exercise your supremacy, here abs., as in c. 95. 26; ii.65.17; and ἡγεῖσθαι c. 19. 3.—τότε: ἐν τοῖς Μηδικοῖς.

διὰ παντός : temporal, to the end. See on c. 38. 2.—εἰ τότε...τοῖς ξυμμάχοις : the protasis and apodosis are not tautological. “If you had by the continuance of your rule come to be detested, you would have found yourselves obliged to resort to as stringent measures of repression as we.”

μὴ ἂν...γενομένους : partic. in indir. disc. after ἴσμεν. GMT. 113; H. 982. If the image of the dir. disc. is vividly present, its οὐ is usually retained. GMT. 69, 5. But verbs of will, including the notions of making, promising, hoping, believing, have a strong preference for μή. Cf. c. 139. 6; ii.17.15; vi.102.19; vii.29.14; Soph. El. 908; Xen. Mem. i.2.41. Cases where οὐ is used are: c. 25. 1; 140. 2; ii.36.18; v.4.24; vi.64.5. See Am. J. of Ph. 1, 48.

ἀπό: see on c. 7. 6.

ἀρχήν γε: Cl. reads γε here, for τε of the Mss. (which all the recent editors have retained), on the ground that no opposition exists between ἀρχήν and ταύτην. But τε καί would here unite as a whole the two sentences, which are properly complements of each other: “we acted only like men, both in accepting the command when it was offered to us, and in not giving it up afterwards.”—εἰ...ἐδεξάμεθα : the influence of θαυμαστόν causes the fact to be expressed in hypothetical form. Cf. c. 33. 8.—διδομένην: cf. c. 33. 25; iv.21.3.

ανεῖμεν: aor. indic.; here with definite obj., different from c. 75. 13.—ὑπὸ τῶν μεγίστων: H. Weil (Rev. de Philol., 1878, p. 92) conjectures ὑπὸ τριῶν τῶν μεγίστων, referring to c. 74. 3 and iii.40.6. But since only the same three motives are meant as were specified in c. 75. 9, there is no need of emphasis on the number here.—νικηθέντες: metaphorical, as in ii.47.17; 51. 23; 60. 22; 87. 9.

ὑπάρξαντες: having been the originators; with and without a gen. Cf. ii.67.29; 74. 17.—καθεστῶτος: the subj. is in the following inf. (see on c. 74. 1), it being an estab- lished rule. Cf. iii.43.5.

ἄξιοί τε: τε introduces the third reason, as c. 67. 6; 69. 3.

ὑμῖν δοκοῦντες: sc. ἄξιοι εἶναι. See c. 95. 25.—μέχρι οὗ...νῦν χρῆσθε : “till it suits you to talk about justice, while your real calculations are those of expediency.” Since δοκοῦντες is a partic. impf. = ἐδοκοῦμεν, μέχρι οὗ (H. 999) should be followed by a past indic. (GMT. 66; H. 922); and so for χρῆσθε we should expect the aor.; but the pres. is suggested by νῦν.

ὅν : introduces the real state of the case (cf. c. 10. 20; 33. 13); “whereas no one, when he had the opportunity of gaining something by force, ever gave justice the preference (Schol., προκρίνας） and turned aside from his advantage.” Cf. iii.39.20, ἰσχὺν τοῦ δικαίου προθεῖναι; iii.84.14; Hdt. iii.53.16.—παρατυχόν: see on c. 2. 8; 22. 9.—μή: pleonastic after a verb of negative meaning. GMT. 95, 2 d; H. 1029.

ἐπαινεῖσθαί τε: τε inferential, and so. Cf. c. 4. 5; 67. 3.—οἵτινες...γεγένηνται : the speaker leaves it to the hearers to apply this general statement to the case of the Athenians.— 17. δικαιότεροι...γεγένηνται : have allowed more weight to considerations of right than they might have done, considering their power. Kühn. 543, 8; Kr. Spr. 49, 4.

ἂν - ἂν : see on c. 36. 14. The former of the two separates γοῦν, at any rate, into its component parts.

τοῦ ἐπιεικοῦς: fairness, equity, the temper which results in μετριάζειν.

περιέστη : turned out at last. See on c. 32. 15; with dat. also, vi.24.6; vii.70.37.