Speech of King Archidamus. Chaps. 80-85.
Do not fancy that a war with the Athenians will be without danger; for in ships and
money they are superior to you.
ὁρῶ: sc.
ὁμοίως
ἐμπείρους ὄντας. See on c. 78. 10.
ἀπειρίᾳ...νομίσαντα
: for the change, see on c. 39. 2; 63. 7; 107. 26;
iv.69.16.—
ἐπιθυμῆσαι: the aor. with the neg. and in reference to the immediate case,
“so that no one of you from inexperience covets the war.” Still
μήτ᾽ ἂν κτἑ. would have been more natural,
‘will be likely to covet.’—
ἔργου: often of war and battle, as in c. 105. 24;
ii.89.42;
iv.14.15.
ἀγαθὸν καὶ
ἀσφαλές neut. after
ἔργου, though
τόνδε in 5 goes back to
πόλεμον.
πολλοί
: to desire war from inexperience belongs not so much to the mass
of men as to the young. Therefore
πολλοί with the Vat.
Ms. rather than
οἱ πολλοί.
οὐκ ἂν...γενόμενον
: i.e.
ὅτι οὐκ ἂν . . .
γένοιτο. For partic., cf.
ii.6.14.
σωφρόνως:
without passion,
impartially.
πρὸς...ἀστυγείτονας
: these two nouns do not stand in the relation of whole to part,
nor are they both parts of a whole; but they describe the characteristics of the enemies
with whom the Lacedaemonians have had hitherto to contend; of course, however, in
contrast to the Athenians; “against Peloponnesians and against near
neighbours, i.e. against states without naval power, and against whom distant
expeditions were not needed.” The repeated art., therefore, which all good
Mss. have, needs no defence. Sh. renders: “for though against the
Peloponnesians,
in other words, our borderers.” He
regards
καί as
epexegetic, and
compares Dem. XXI. 196,
τοῦ δήμου κατηγορήσει καὶ τῆς
ἐκκλησίας. So Plat.
Gorg. 472 b,
ἐκ
τῆς οὐσίας καὶ τοῦἀληθοῦς. Dem. XVIII. 156. See Munro on Lucr. iii.
993.
παρόμοιος: not ‘nearly
like,’ but ‘like when placed side by side and compared.’
Bonitz,
ibid. p. 28. So c. 132. 20. See on c. 73.
26.—
ἀλκή: in a material sense,
as in
iii.30.7; not, as in
ii.87.21, in a moral sense.—
διὰ
ταχέων: cf.
iii.13.14;
iv.8.18; 96. 4;
vi.66.10;
viii.101.4.—
ἐφ᾽
ἕκαστα ἐλθεῖν: since the enemy is not at a distance, and can be reached by
land.
πρὸς ἄνδρας οἳ
κτἑ.: the antecedent is repeated in
τούτους, 14, the attributes being accumulated before it. The
same rhetorical turn in iii. 39. § 2. —
ἑκὰς ἔχουσι: probably refers to the taunt of the
Corinthians, c. 69. 23, but also to indicate the narrow range of the Lacedaemonian
policy.
θαλάσσης: often without art. unless a special
sea is meant. Kr.
Spr. 50, 2, 15.
ὄχλῳ:
a population
(cf.
vi.17.8), the complement of the three preceding
nouns, which only by help of this can be employed in war.
ὅπλα includes the equipment of forces of all kinds as well as of ships.
ἑνί γε χωρίῳ; so
viii.40.8,
μιᾷ γε πόλει. Cf.
vi.20.8,
ὡς ἐν μιᾷ νήσῳ.
πῶς χρὴ
. . .
ἐπειχθῆναι: this form of
rhetorical question occurs again in Thuc. only in
vi.38.27. See Blass,
Att. Bered. I. 215.—
ῥᾳδίως:
lightly, without
serious consideration, temere. Cf. c. 73. 6.
πόλεμον ἄρασθαι: “
to become involved in hostilities, of either of the combatants;
πόλεμον ἀναιρεῖσθαι, of the aggressors.”
Sh.
ἐπειχθῆναι: intr., as in c. 85. 3;
iii.3.14. In c. 82. 22 it is a true pass. of
ἐπείγειν. The impf. mid. tenses are trans. in
iii.2.14;
iv.5.9;
vi.100.5;
viii.9.2; intr. in c.
93. 8;
iv.3.4;
vi.32.14.
χρόνος ἐνέσται:
in this
time will be lost. So
ἐγγίγνεται, c. 113. 1;
iv.111.4.
ἀλλὰ τοῖς χρήμασιν
κτἑ.: notice
ἀλλά
introducing both question and answer. Cf. vi. 38. § 5;
Lys. XXIV 24.—
τούτου
ἐλλείπομεν:
τούτου is collective for
τῶν χρημάτων, which must be understood also in acc. with
ἔχομεν and
φέρομεν.
For
ἐλλείπειν, cf.
ii.61.20; Plat.
Phaedr. 269 d. See App.
ἐν κοινῷ: in aerario. Cf. c. 141. 11; with
art.,
vi.6.29.—
ἑτοίμως:
easily, not
‘willingly.’ Pericles in c. 141. § 3 repeats this statement
about the Peloponnesians. See Stahl, Jahrb. 1863, p. 459.
φέρομεν: regularly used of taxes. Cf. c. 19.
6; 83. 3.
