E.C. Marchant, Commentary on Thucydides: Book 6

τὴν π. δύναμιν—obj. of δείσαντες, while αὐτήν is obj. of καταπλαγῆτε.

καταπλαγῆτε—i.e. that fear may induce Camarina to join the A.

τοὺς . . λόγους—depends on δείσαντες. μέλλοντας is contrasted with παροῦσαν, λόγους with δύναμιν. ‘We sent out our cmbassy, not from a fear that . . but from a fear that the words that they intended to address to you before you could hear what we have to say, might persuade you.’ Notice that πρίν τι . . ἀκοῦσαι precedes μή, and consequently belongs to τοὺς μέλλοντας, not to πείσωσιν.

ᾗ πυνθάνεσθε—sc. ἥκειν: but ἥν is direct obj. of ὑπονοοῦμεν. (So Classen; Kruger and others explain ᾗ as attracted for ἥν, and ἥν as left unattracted for the sake of variety, but this is scaicely probable.)

κατοικίσαι . . ἐξοικἰσαι—paronomasia, adnominatio; cf. c. 76, 4 ἀξυνετωτέρου, κακοξυνετωτέρου: 79, 2 ἀλόγως . . εὐλόγῳ. It is very common in Thuc. See c. 72, 4.

τὰς μὲν ἐκει ῀ πόλεις—Aegina, Scione, and Melos are especially referred to.

Χαλκιδέων—see c. 3, 3. The Chalcidians of Euboea are said to be ‘enslaved’ because their independence is gone. δουλεία often denotes the opposite of αὐτονομία.

δουλωσαμένους ἔχειν—cf. c. 39, 2 n. There is again an enthymeme here. See on c. 10, 5.

ἰδέᾳ—‘method.’

ἐκεῖνα—i.e. τὰ ἐκεῖ, their possessions in Greece.

ἔσχον, ‘obtamed.’ With

πειρῶνται supply σχεῖν, the infin. or partic. being often omitted with verbs that require the completion: e.g. v. 80 οὐ μέντοι εὐθύς γε ἀπέστη ἀλλὰ διενοεῖτο (sc. ἀποστῆναι) ὅτι καὶ τοὺς Ἀργείους ἑώρα (sc. ἀποστάντας).

ἡγεμόνες γάρ—the likelihood that the view expressed is correct is shown by an example from previous events. This is the argument known as τὸ εἰκός supported by παραδείγματα. There is another instance in c. 79, 1.

ἑκόντων τῶν τε Ἰώνων—cf. I. 95 ἐν τῇδε τῇ ἡγεμονίᾳ ἤδη βιαίου ὄντος (sc. Pausanias) . . οὐχ ἤκιστα οἱ Ἴωνες . . φοιτῶντες πρὸς τοὺς Ἀθηναίους ἠξίουν αὐτοὺς ἡγεμόνας σφῶν γενέσθαι. Herod. VIII. 3 ἀπείλοντο τὴν ἡγεμονἰαν τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους. Ath. Pol. c. 23 ἐπὶ τὴν ἀπόστασιν τὴν τῶν Ἰώνων ἀπὸ τῆς τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων συμμαχίας Ἀριστείδης ἦν ὁ προτρέψας. This was in 478-477 B.C. ἀπὸ σφῶν—τῶν Ἀθηναίων, i.e. ὅσοι ἄποικοι αὐτῶν ἦσαν (Schol.). Poppo quotes I. 12 Ἴωνας Ἀθηναῖοι καὶ νησιωτῶν τοὺς πολλοὺς ᾤκισαν (Ionia and the Cyclades).

ὡς ἐπὶ τοῦ Μ. τιμωρίᾳ—this was the primary object of the new confederacy.

τοὺς μέν—depends on κατεστρέψαντο. λιποστρατίαν is obj. to ἐπενεγκόντες. Plut. Cim. c. 11 of the allies, ἄνδρας καὶ ναῦς ὡς ἐτάχθησαν οὐ παρεῖχον.

ἐπ̓ ἀλλήλους στρατεύειν—sc. ἐπενεγκόντες: others were charged with making war on one another. This occurred in the case of Samos and Miletus (I. 115).

τοῖς δέ—governed by ἐπενεγκόντες, in accordance with custom where a common object of a partic. and verb is near the partic. Cf. c. 77, 2.

εἶχον—sc. ἐπενεγκεῖν. Cf. I. 99 αἰτίαι ἄλλαι τε ἦσαν τῶν ἀποστάσεων καὶ μέγισται αἱ τῶν φόρων καὶ νεῶν ἔκδειαι.

κατεστρέψαντο—cf. Ath. Pol. c. 24 λαβόντες τὴν ἀρχὴν τοῖς συμμάχοις δεσποτικωτέρως ἐχρῶντο.

καὶ οὐ περὶ κτλ — ‘so, it seems (ἄρα ironical), Athens was not contending for the freedom of Greece nor Greece for her own when they resisted the Persians: Athens resisted them in order to substitute dependence on herself for dependence on them; Greece resisted to secure a change to a new master, who had not less sense, but made a worse use of his cleverness’; i.e., as Freeman says, ‘the other Gks. had simply exchanged the Mede for a master of greater understand ing, but of understanding used only for mischief,’ as they found afterwaids.

οἱ δ᾽ ἐπί—strictly this should be οἱ δὲ δ. μεταβολῆς, still depending on περὶ δέ.

δεσπότου μ.—cf. c. 18, 7 n. The artificiality of this passage is censured by Dion. Hal.