T. G. Tucker, Commentary on Thucydides: Book 8

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Φαρναβάζῳ τῷ Φαρνάκου. Cf. i. 129 (B.C. 476), Ξέρξης ἀποστέλλει Ἀρτάβαζον τὸν Φαρνάκου ἐπὶ θάλασσαν καὶ κελεύει αὐτὸν τήν τε Δασκυλῖτιν σατραπείαν παραλαβεῖν κ.τ.λ.; ii. 67 (B.C. 430), πορευθῆναι πέραν τοῦ Ἑλλησπόντου ὡς Φαρνάκην τὸν Φαρναβάζου. So v. 1 (B.C. 422) Pharnaces is in command of Atramyttium. From these passages it appears that the names had of late alternated (as with the Athenians), Pharnabazus—Pharnaces—Pharnabazus; and also that the satrapy was hereditary.

κομίσειαν ‘bring’ for him, not for themselves; hence active. ὅρως of course depends upon πέμψαντος.

ἅπερ προὐθυμεῖτο Cf. c. 1, § 1.

ἐν τῇ ἑαυτοῦ ἀπχῇ the Δασκυλῖτις σατραπεία of i. 129, Dascylium being the central point of the satrapy, which embraced Hellespontine Phrygia, Bithynia, and Paphlagonia. Cf. Xen. Hell. iv. 1, 15, ἐπὶ Δασκυλείου ἐπορεύετο ἔνθα καὶ τὰ βασίλεια ἦν Φαρναβάζῳ.

διὰ τοὺς φόρους i.e. so as to be enabled to get in the tributes from the Grecian states, which the king expected of him as he did of Tissaphernes.

ἀφ᾽ ἑαυτοῦ i.e. make it ‘originate with’ him. Cf. vi. 61, ἀπ᾽ ἐκείνου ἐδόκει πραχθῆναι.

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τῶν ἐν τῇ Λακεδαίμονι. αὐτῶν of Haase, Cl., etc., is not required. The meaning is ‘of the parties present in L.,’ not the Lacedaemonians themselves, for these begin the next sentence, οἱ μέντοι Λακεδ.. . . . The words are not superfluous, as P-S would suppose; there are other parties than the two just named, e.g. Alcibiades.

ὅπως . . . πείσουσι See crit. note. The future is regular with expressions of ‘striving.’ The subjunctive is ‘less frequent,’ Goodwin, M. and T. § 339.

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Ἀλκιβιάδης, now aet. 37, and an open enemy of his country. See vi. 88, vii. 18. The mission of Gylippus and the occupation of Decelea had been suggested by him, and the success of these measures no doubt gave him great influence.

Ἐνδίῳ mentioned v. 44 as among those Laced. who were ἐπιτήδειοι τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις.

πατρικὸς not=πατρῷος, but ‘by ancestral tradition.’ Cf. Ar. Av. 142, πατρικὸς φίλος; Dem. 530, ἔχθρας πατρικῆς.

ὅθεν καὶ τοὔνομα κ.τ.λ. lit. ‘whence also their house got its name of a Laconian character (got a Laconian name) in accordance with the existing bond of friendship,’ i.e. ‘and that is why the name which their house adopted was taken from Laconia.’ αὐτῶν, not αὐτοῦ,=Alcibiades' family, the name not being confined to this Alc. but having been frequently used by his house. His paternal grandfather was named Alcibiades (Hdt. viii. 17), and he himself had a son of the same name (Isoc. 352 [28]).

ἔσχεν ‘originally adopted.’ The words κατὰ τὴν ξενίαν (omitted by Herwerden, P-S, etc.) are really redundant after ὅθεν, or else ὅθεν itself is needless.

Ἔνδιος γὰρ Ἀλκιβιάδου ἐκαλεῖτο the proof that the name was Laconian. Lit. ‘for Endius was called Ἀλκιβιάδου,’ i.e. he was spoken of in full as Ἔνδιος Ἀλκιβιάδου. There might be other persons called Endins, and Ἀλκιβιάδου is the only kind of surname which Greek admitted. Cf. Wilson, Johnson, etc. The reading Ἀλκιβιάδης of most MSS. is a conjectural emendation which is wrong. For the use cf. Hdt. vi. 88, Νικόδρομος Κνοίθου καλεόμενος. Arnold's statement that ‘Alcibiades was the surname to every Endius and Endius to every Alcibiades’ is too decided.

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κατάσκοπον . . . εἰ, as if κατασκεψόμενον εἰ.

πέμψαντες . . . ἐποήσαντο The intervening words are adverbial extension.

περίοικον The perioeci, though politically inferior to the Σπαρτιᾶται, served in the army and were often appointed to important posts (cf. inf. c. 22). Their position generally is that of Saxons to Normans.

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σεισμοῦ γενομένου, a sign that heaven was unpropitious to an undertaking. Cf. v. 45 (end), σεισμοῦ δὲ γενομένου πρίν τι ἐπικυρωθῆναι, ἡ ἐκκλησία ἀνεβλήθη; v. 50, οὐδὲν ἐπράχθη, ἀλλὰ σεισμοῦ γενομένου διελύθησαν ἕκαστοι ἐρ᾽ οἴκου.

ἔπεμπον note the tense; it appears afterwards that he did not yet start.