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οἵ τ᾽, answered by καὶ Λέων κ.τ.λ., § 2.

ταῖς εἴκοσι In c. 17, § 3, they are nineteen.

Πάνορμον a very common geographical name. τῆς Μιλησίας is a necessary addition, there being another Πάνορμος in the neighbouring peninsula of Halicarnassus. For the present place cf. Hdt. i. 157, δὲ χῶρος οὗτος (viz. Βραγχίδαι) ἐστὶ τῆς Μιλησίης ὑπὲρ Πανόρμου λιμένος.

ἀνεῖλον an unusual thing (except, apparently, in these circumstances), inasmuch as the τροπαῖον was dedicated and, so far, inviolable.


Οἰνουσσῶν, five islands belonging to Chios (Hdt. i. 165). There was another group of the same name off Messenia.

Σιδοὐσσης . . . Πτελεοῦ exact positions unknown.

τείχη = castella. For the readings at this point see crit. note.

καὶ ἐκ τῆς Λέσβου is at first sight difficult, and is bracketed by P-S after Classen. The ships, it is said, would hardly keep starting from so distant a place as Lesbos, and the preceding τὰς ἐκ τοῦ Λέσβου ναῦς makes these words a kind of contradiction, the fleet having left Lesbos The latter objection is unsound. ‘Leon and D. with the Athenian ships at (ἐκ by construction praeg.) Lesbos’ does not imply that they brought away all the ships (nor perhaps were they likely to do so with Lesbian loyalty so uncertam). For the former, it may be pointed out that the distance is after all not more than forty miles, and that, while making the Oenussae, etc., the nearer starting-places, some of the ships might well be utilised to descend from Lesbos upon the W. side of Chios.

εἶχον δ᾽ ἐπιβάτας κ.τ.λ. Construe ‘and for ἐπιβάται they had some of the hoplites who were taken from the active list and were serving nnder compulsion,’ i.e. were pressed into that branch of service. The ἐπιβάται were regularly of an inferior class (θῆτες); cf. vi. 43, and note on c. 23, § 3. At this critical time the superior citizens were compelled to serve in this capacity under pain of an ἀστρατείας γραφή.

ἐκ καταλόγου Cf. vi. 43; vii. 16, 20. The list of those liable to serve excluded the θῆτες. οἱ ἐν τῷ καταλόγῳ are opposed to οἱ ἔξω τοῦ κ. and οἱ ὑπὲρ τὸν κ.


Καρδαμύλῃ, on the N.E. coast of Chios. Homer (Il. ix. 150) mentions a place of the same name in Messenia.

Βολίσκῳ so Vat. The rest Βολίσσῳ. See crit. note. Kiepert places Bolissus on the W.N.W. coast, where there is now a village called Volisso. These two landings (ten miles apart) resulted in one battle (the northern) Another landing in the south led to another battle, and a third near Chios itself to a third battle.

τὰ ταύτῃ sc. in the north.

Φάναις in the S.W. A harbour and promontory. λιμὴν βαθύς, Strabo (p. 644); Livy, xliv. 28, Promonturium Phanae; Verg. G. ii. 98, rex ipse Phanaeus.

Λευκωνίῳ the modern Leuconia.

κατεσκευασμένην ‘stocked.’ Cf. vi. 91, οἷς χώρα κατεσκεύασται.

ἀπὸ τῶν Μηδικῶν ‘ever since the trouble with the Medes.’ The Persians had not molested Chios till after the battle of Lade (B.C. 495), but at that time they burned and ravaged the country and carried off the beautiful girls as slaves (Hdt. vi. 31, 32). Cf. i. 18, πρὸ τῶν Μηδικῶν; i. 95, τοῦ Μηδικοῦ πολέμου.


εὐδαιμονήσαντες ἅμα καὶ ἐσωφρόνησαν = ‘after reaching prosperity they also put restraint upon themselves.’ This reading does not imply, as P-S would make it, that the prosperity was the cause of their self-restraint. When they became prosperous there were two courses open, to break out into luxury or to check themselves from so doing. They chose the latter. Hence the tense, rather than ἐσωφρόνουν. Cf. ἡσύχασαν, § 6.

ἐκοσμοῦντο ‘ordered themselves,’ i.e. their government. Cf. c. 67, § 3, ἐκ τοῦ αὐτοῦ κόσμου; c. 72, § 2, ἐν τῷ ὀλιγαρχικῷ κόσμῳ; Hdt. i. 59, τὴν πόλιν καλῶς τε καὶ εὖ κοσμέων.


πόνηρα. Herodian (circ. 160 A.D.) is authority for the remark that οἱ Ἀττικοί write proparoxytone in this sense, but oxytone in the moral sense. Cf. ‘húman’ and ‘humáne.’ So with μοχθηρός. MSS. vary.

βεβαίως ‘beyond a doubt.’

ξυναναιρεθήσεσθαι The infinitive clause is exegetic of. ταὐτά. ξυν-, J. says, is intensive, ‘utterly.’ P-S should not have denied this use. συν- has often the force of summariness; cf. συντέμνειν (and con-sumere, etc.) An actual parallel to the present passage occurs, Isoc. 407 D, ἅπασαν τὴν ὑπάρχουσαν εὐδαιμονίαν συνανεῖλες (‘all at once’).

τὴν ἁμαρτίαν ξυνέγνωσαν either (1) ‘they recognised their mistake,’ or (2) ‘they resolved jointly upon the mistake.’ The latter, though less common, is to be preferred. Cf. ii. 60, ἐμὲ τὸν παραινέσαντα καὶ ὑμᾶς αὐτούς, οἳ ξυνέγνωτε. In later Greek οἱ συνεγνωκότες=‘the conspirators.’ For the contained accus J quotes vii. 73, οἱ δὲ ξυνεγίγνωσκον μὲν καὶ αὐτοὶ οὐχ ἧσσον ταῦτα ἐκείνου, where the neuter pronoun is of course easier.


οὓς αἰσθόμενοι, sc. τι ἐποίουν. Cf. οῖδά σε, ὅστις εἶ. The οὗ of P-S is not called for.

ἡσύχασαν For aorist cf. ἐσωφρόνησαν, § 4. Of the two courses open they chose to check any desire for action.

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hide References (21 total)
  • Commentary references from this page (21):
    • Herodotus, Histories, 1.157
    • Herodotus, Histories, 1.165
    • Herodotus, Histories, 1.59
    • Herodotus, Histories, 6.31
    • Homer, Iliad, 9.150
    • Thucydides, Histories, 1.18
    • Thucydides, Histories, 1.95
    • Thucydides, Histories, 2.60
    • Thucydides, Histories, 6.43
    • Thucydides, Histories, 6.91
    • Thucydides, Histories, 7.16
    • Thucydides, Histories, 7.20
    • Thucydides, Histories, 7.73
    • Thucydides, Histories, 8.17.3
    • Thucydides, Histories, 8.23.3
    • Thucydides, Histories, 8.24.2
    • Thucydides, Histories, 8.24.4
    • Thucydides, Histories, 8.24.6
    • Thucydides, Histories, 8.67.3
    • Thucydides, Histories, 8.72.2
    • Isocrates, Ad Philippum, 3
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