C.E. Graves, Commentary on Thucydides: Book 5

ἔτει—this was in 426 or thereabouts, for the retreat for which he was banished was in 445; see line 32. During his banishment his son Pausanias, a minor, was king (iii. 26, 2). τοὺς βασιλέας—Eurysthenes and Procles, twin sons of Aristodemus; see Hdt. vi. 52.

ἀνεπίληπτος—‘not open to attack, or censure’: Eur. Or. 922, ἀνεπίληπτον (var. lect.) ἡσκηκὼς βίον: Xen. Anab. vii. 6, 37, ἔξεστιν ἀνεπιλήπτως πορεύεσθαι: cf. Soph. Ant. 406, ἐπίληπτος ᾐρέθη. and see ἐπιλαμβάνω. ἀπὸ τῶν ξυμφορῶν—ἀπό, ‘from’, denotes the origin and cause: ii. 25, 2, ἀπὸ τούτου τοῦ τολμήματος ἐπῃνέθη.

προὐθυμήθη τὴν ξύμβασιν—the cognate construction (τι, τοῦτο etc.) is here extended to the substantive: so viii. 90, 2, τὴν ὁμολογίαν προὐθυμοῦντο: viii. 1, 1, τοῖς ξυμπροθυμηθεῖσι τὸν ἔκπλουν.

καὶ τόν τε—the punctuation in the text is that of Poppo and Krüger, according to which τόν τε χειμῶνα ᾔεσαν is answered by καὶ πρὸς τὸ ἔαρ παρασκευή τε προεπανεσείσθῃ. καἰ ἐπειδή. ‘The final result (τότε δή) was due first of all to the threatening attitude of the Lacedaemonians; secondly, to the circumstance that the commissioners of both parties were just then finding, after many disputes, a possible basis of agreement’ (Jowett). The second division of this sentence is inconveniently long and complicated, and possibly Classen is right in putting a stop after πρὸς τὸ ἔαρ ἤδη (sc ᾔεσαν ἐς λόγους), and beginning a fresh sentence with παρασκευή τε.

πρὸς τὸ ἔαρ—so ch. 39, 20. ἤδη—ch. 59, 3, ἡμέρας ἤδη: i. 30 (fin.) χειμῶνος ἤδη. προεπανεσείσθη=προηπειλήθη, as explained by the scholiast, ‘there were threatening demonstrations of an expedition on the part of Lacedaemon’. It is a metaphor from brandishing a weapon at a foe; cf. iv. 126, 4, ἡ ἐπανάσεισις τῶν ὅπλων ἔχει τινὰ δήλωσιν ἀπειλῆς: see ἐπανασείω.

ἀπό—‘on the side of’; iii. 65, 5, γνῶμαι ἀφ̓ εκάστων ἐλέγοντο. περιαγγελλομένη—ii. 85, 2, ναῦς περιήγγελλον κατὰ πόλεις: see note on iv. 8, 2. περιαγγέλλω in this sense takes either the infinitive, or an accusative of the force demanded.

ὡς ἐπὶ τειχισμόν—several manuscripts have ὡς ἐπιτειχισμόν, and Arnold therefore approves of ὡς ἐς ἐπιτειχισμόν, comparing i. 50, 5, where ὡς ἐς ἐπίπλουν is an accepted emendation of the manuscript reading ὼς ἐπίπλουν. ἐπιτειχισμὁς is no doubt a suitable word: it occurs in i. 122, 1, ἐπιτειχισμὸς τῇ χώρᾳ: and we have ἐπιτείχισις in i. 142, 1. The simple form τειχισμός however seems used of the construction of hostile works in general, as in viii. 34, 2, παρεσκευάζοντο ἐς τὸν τειχισμόν. Poppo accordingly retains τειχισμόν in his text, and is followed by modern editors.

ἅμα—rightly taken by Jowett as connecting ξυνεχωρεῖτο with προεπανεσείσθη.

δικαιώσεις—‘claims’ or ‘demands’ professedly grounded on justice; i. 141, 1, ἥ τε μεγίστη καὶ ἐλαχίστη δικαίωσις. προενεγκόντων—this sentence has two instances of the genitive absolute with subject understood προφέρω, active, iii. 64, 1: middle, iii. 59, 2: passive, ch. 26, 24.

ξυυεχωρεῖτο—Classen notes that this is a solitary instance of the passive of this word used impersonally. The imperfect, as he also points out, denotes the slow and difficult settlement of satisfactory terms. For ὥστε, of conditions, cf. iv. 46, 2, ὥστε λελύσθαι τὰς σπονδάς: Goodwin § 587, 2.

ἔσχον—‘won’; ἔχειν ‘keep’. αὐτῶν—explained by the precediug Πλάταιαν: so in iv. 1, 1, αὐτῶν ἐπαγαγομένων follows Μεσσήνην κατέλαβον. Plataea surrendered in 427; the city was destroyed and the land occupied by the Thebans (iii. 52 sq.).

οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι...Νίσαιαν—sc. ἔχειν ἔφασαν: see iv. 69. The Athenian claim to Nisaea rested on the same grounds as the Theban claim to Plataea, both places having been compelled by famine to agree to terms.

παρακαλέσαντες—i. 67, 1, παρεκάλουν ἐς τὴν Λακεδαίμονα τοὺς ξυμμάχους. πλὴν Βοιωτῶν—the allies generally regarded with suspicion a private arrangement between Athens and Sparta; while the Bocotians were unwilling to restore Panactum, and the Megarians resented the Athenian occupation of Nisaea. In chapters 30 and 31 we find the particular grounds of dissatisfaction on the part of Corinth and Elis.

τῶν ἄλλων—added to define further the subject of ψηφισαμένων, all the other states but those mentioned. τούτοις refers to the states in question. ὤστε—cf. vi. 88, 9, ψηφισά. μενοι αὐτοὶ ὥστε ἀμύνειν.