CHAPTER LXIII
τοῦ ἀφανοῦς—put first for the sake of emphasis and clearness. The two main reasons for union are the uncertainty of the future, and the actual presence of the Athenians.
ἀτέκμαρτον—used in
Hdt. v 92 (3) of an obscure oracle; from
τἐκμαρ, a fixed mark or limit, hence a sure sign.
διὰ τὸ...παρόντας—a confusion between
διὰ τὸ...παρεῖναι and
διὰ τοὺς...παρόντας: so
v. 7,
διὰ τὸ...καθημένους. In
viii. 105 most manuscripts have
διὰ τὸ...διώκοντες.
τὸ ἐλλιπὲς τῆς γνώμης—lit. ‘the coming short of our plans’, i.e. of the schemes of advantage which the several states had formed: cf. ch. 55, 18,
ἐλλιπὲς τῆς δοκήσεως. ὧν—i.e.
τούτων ὧν, dep. on
τὸ ἐλλιπὲς τῆς γνώμης. ἕκαστός τι—this has the best manuscript authority, but
ἕκαστός τις is also a well supported reading and gives a good sense.
εἰρχθῆναι—with
τὸ ἐλλιπὲς τῆς γνώμης, lit. ‘was restrained’, i.e was brought about by restraint. We should say, ‘satisfied that the failure in our hopes had an adequate cause in these obstacles’: cf. ch. 98, 22,
κατειργόμενον, ‘done under constraint’.
It is also possible to take
τὸ ἐλλιπές as determinant accusative with
εἰρχθῆναι, understanding
ἡμεῖς as the subject, ‘in the failure of our plans convinced that we were sufficiently prevented’. In support of this construction Poppo cites Ar. Vesp. 333,
τίς ἐσθ᾽ ὁ ταῦτά δ᾽ εἴργων;
ἐφεστῶτας—=instantes:
Dem. de Cor. 287,
τὸν ἐφεστηκότα κίνδυνον.
ἀποπέμπωμεν—‘dismiss’: so
Dem. Androt. 597,
Θηβαίους ὑποσπόνδους ἀπεπέμψατε, of compelling an enemy to evacuate a district: cf. ch. 49, 5,
ἐκπέμψαντες.
μάλιστα μὲν...εἰ δὲ μή—of the best and next best alternative:
i. 32:
ii. 72, etc.
ἐς ἀί̂διον—so
ii. 64: cf. ch. 20, 5; where also we have the concurrence of sound
ἀί̂διον...ἰδίαν.
ἐς αὖθις ἀναβαλώμεθα—cf.
Plat. Symp. 174 E,
εἰσαῦθις ἀναβαλοῦ: id.
Euthyphr. 15 E,
εἰσαῦθις τοίνυν. Thuc. has
ἐς ἀεί,
i. 22 and 129:
ἐς ἔπειτα,
i. 130.
τὸ ξύμπαν τε—adverbial: cf.
i. 144,
καθ̓ ἕκαστά τε καὶ τὸ ξύμπαν.
ἀρετῇ—referring to
εὖ as well as
κακῶς δρῶντα, ‘like true men’ (Jowett): cf. ch. 19, 18,
ἀνταποδοῦναι ἀρετήν.
ἀμυνούμεθα—‘requite’: cf.
i. 44,
τοῖς ὁμοίοις ἡμᾶς ἀμύνεσθαι.
οὐ περὶ τοῦ—sc.
ὁ λόγος or
ὁ ἀγὼν ἔσται, ‘it will be no question of punishing another’: cf.
Dem. Androt. 607,
οὐ περὶ πράξεως εἰσφορῶν ἐστίν: id.
Tim. 701,
περὶ αὐτοῦ τούτου νῦν ὑμῖν ἐστί.
καὶ ἄγαν εἰ τύχοιμεν—‘if we were ever so successful’:
iii. 39,
τυχόντες μὲν...σφαλέντες δέ:
iii. 42,
μὴ τυχών, opp. to
πείσας: cf. ch. 22, 15.
φίλοι μὲν ἄν—the sentences begins as if the principal verb would be in the optative; instead of which by a change of construction
ἄν is left without a verb and the second clause concludes with the present indicative
γιγνόμεθα. The sense thus given is ‘we might indeed become friends with our deadly foes, but we are actually becoming at variance with our true friends’; the change of expression being a rhetorical device to arrest the attention.
We have a similar variation in
Dem. Lept. 461,
παρὰ δ̓ ὑμῖν ἂ ἂν λάβῃ τις ἔχειν ὑπῆρχε τὸν γοῦν ἄλλον χρόνον, ‘in your city whatever a man has once received he used at any rate to be allowed to keep’. In this passage, in which the speaker is discussing a change of the laws for rewarding public services, he makes a sudden change of tense, and instead of saying
ἔχειν ὑπάρχει, throws the sentence into an imperfect form.
