Charles F. Smith, Commentary on Thucydides Book 7

2. τοὺς πρώτους χρόνους: explained by ἡμέρας ἑβδομήκοντά τινας in 15. After these 70 days there was some relief at least, from the removal of a part of the captives.—μετεχείρισαν: in Thuc. used only in act. See on i.13.7; found only here with pers. obj.; with acc. of the thing in vi.12.17; 16. 31.—κοίλῳ χωρίῳ: signifies a deep place with steep walls, as in c. 84. 18, κοῖλος ποταμός.

οἱ ἥλιοι : the pl. (as θάλπη, ψύχη, μεγέθη) with intensive force. Kühn. 348, note 2; Kr. Spr. 44, 3, 6.

πνῖγος: the smothering heat resulting from the crowded mass of human beings.— διὰ τὸ ἀστέγαστον: “because there was no shelter.” The neut. of the adj. instead of an abstract noun, as in i.69.14; ii.51.12, and freq.— ἐπιγιγνόμεναι τοὐναντίον μετοπωριναὶ καὶ ψυχραί: “and the nights, on the contrary, following autumnal and cold.”

τῇ μεταβολῇ: cf. Hdt. ii.77.10, ἐν γὰρ τῇσι μεταβολῇσι τοῖσι ἀνθρώποισι αἱ νοῦσοι μάλιστα γίνονται τῶν τε ἄλλων πάντων καὶ δὴ καὶ τῶν ὡρέων μάλιστα.

ἐς ἀσθένειαν ἐνεωτέριζον : “engendered violent disorders.” Cf. Arr. An. iv.8.2, ἐς τὸ βαρβαρικώτερον νενεωτέριστο; id. vii.13.3, μή τι νεωτερισθείη ἐς ὕβριν. ἐς ἀσθένειαν indicates the consequence. νεωτερίζειν is used of every departure from the general order, esp. of hard and violent changes. See on i.58.3.

πάντα ποιούντων...ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ : Schol. διὰ τὸ δύσφημον ἀπεσιώπησεν αὐτὰ ὀνομαστὶ εἰπεῖν. See on iv.97.13, καὶ ὅσα ἄνθρωποι ἐν βεβήλῳ δρῶσι πάντα γίγνεσθαι αὐτόθι.

ἐπ̓ ἀλλήλοις ξυννενημένων : cf. ii.52.6.

καὶ τὸ τοιοῦτον: cf. c. 50. 30.

ἀνεκτοί: as adj. of two terminations; so ἐσβατόν in ii.41.16.

δίψει: third decl., as in iv.35.13 δίψους; but in ii.49.23 δίψῃ, acc. to most of the Mss. St. has adopted everywhere the forms of the first decl.

κοτύλην ὕδατος κτἑ.: the scantiness of this measure, which was only half of the food given to slaves, is best seen by a comparison with that which was allowed to the Lacedaemonians taken on Sphacteria: δύο χοίνικας ἑκάστῳ Ἀττικὰς ἀλφίτων καὶ δύο κοτύλας οἴνου καὶ κρέας, iv.16.8. The κοτύλη is the fourth part of the χοῖνιξ. See Boeckh, P. E. p. 125.—ἄλλα ὅσα: as in ii.96.13, for ὅσα ἄλλα. Kr. Spr. 51, 10, 10. With it Cl. connects οὐδὲν ὅ τι οὐκ, τούτων being understood; rather, it seems, ἄλλα has been attracted from the gen. into the case of the rel. Kr. Spr. 51, 10, 9.

ἐν τῷ τοιούτῳ: the art., added from Vat., refers back expressly to the description of 2 ff. For ἐν after verbs of motion, esp. the pf., see on c. 71. 40.

οὐδὲν ὅ τι οὐ: on this formula see Kr. Spr. 51, 10, 11.—ἐπεγένετο: used esp. of sicknesses and great ills. Cf. ii.49.9; 58. 8.

15. τινας: with a numeral. See on c. 33. 17.—διῃτήθησαν: complexive aor., which recapitulates the foregoing. Cf. i.6.3. GMT. 19, N. 2.— 17. ἀπέδοντο: Schol. ἐπώλησαν.

18. ἀκριβείᾳ μὲν...ἐξειπεῖν, ὅμως δέ : the parenthetical subord. clause is treated as if co-ord. with the leading clause.—οὐκ ἐλάσσους ἑπτακισχιλίων: see on c. 85. 13.

19. ξυνέβη τε: and so it happened. For the inferential τε, see on c. 71. 21.—ἔργον τοῦτο...μέγιστον : the same manner of expression and order of words as in i.1.8. The form of the sent., which is often used by Thuc., does not admit of an explanatory adj. with the simple dem. The restrictive Ἑλληνικόν is inconsistent also with the general idea of the sent., which emphasizes, out of the whole course of the Peloponnesian War (κατὰ τὸν πόλεμον τόνδε), the greatest and most important event (ἔργον here = a completed occurrence, not a single fact). In the next clause Ἑλληνικῶν is prop., since the view is extended beyond this war, and the historian naturally limits himself to the events of Greek history. Kr., Pluygers, and St. also omit Ἑλληνικόν.

δοκεῖν δ̓ ἔμοιγε : the elliptical inf. without ὡς. See on c. 49. 18; i.138.17.

23. κατὰ πάντα: i.e. on sea and on land, in their fortifications and in the open field. The paronomasia in πάντα πάντως as in viii.1.9, πάντα πανταχόθεν.

οὐδὲν ὀλίγον ἐς οὐδέν : see on c. 59. 9.

πανωλεθρίᾳ: not found elsewhere except in later writers, but the adj. πανώλεθρον is much used in tragedy with ἀπόλλυσθαι (Aesch. Sept. 71; Ag. 518; Eum. 522; Pers. 563; Soph. El. 1009). On τὸ λεγόμενον, “as the saying is,” see Kr. Spr. 57, 10, 12.—δή: emphasizes esp. the παν-, as it does sups. and similar consts. Cf. ii.77.7, πᾶσαν δὴ ἰδέαν ἐπενόουν.

οὐδὲν ὅ τι οὐ : see on 14.

ὀλίγοι ἀπὸ πολλῶν: as in i.110.2; iii.112.30.—ἀπενόστησαν: acc. to Plut. Nic. 29, many of the Athenians obtained their freedom, others, who had already escaped, got food and shelter, by repeating verses from Euripides, who was more popular with the Sicilians than any other foreign author. The thanks of these survivors, many of whom on their return expressed their gratitude to him, were no doubt the sweetest praise the poet ever heard.—ταῦτα μέν: co-ord. with ἐς δὲ τὰς Ἀθήνας of viii.1.1.— 27. τὰ γενόμενα: sc. ἦν. For other forms of conclusion, see on c. 30. 19.