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

δίκας.. δοῦναι—see ch. 27, 14. ἐπικαλοῦσιν—i. 139, 2, ἐπικαλοῦντες ἐπεργασίαν Μεγαρεῦσι: iv. 133, 1, without dative of the person expressed: see ch. 83, 17.

οἱ μέν—answered by οἱ δέ, line 10. These particles mark the two main antithetical divisions of the chapter. On the one hand the Argive chiefs acted independently, and so did Agis in accepting their proposals; on the other hand the Lacedaemonians, though they obeyed Agis, were indignant at his conduct, and the Argives were no less enraged with Thrasyllus and Alciphron.

τῶν Ἀργείων—partitive genitive dependent on οἱ ταῦτα εἰπόντες: cf. iii. 28, 2, οἱ δὲ πράξαντες μάλιστα πρὸς τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους τῶν Μυτιληναίων. There seems no ground for taking τῶν Ἀργείων as dependent on ταῦτα, as Classen does; or for omitting the words, as others propose. They are in fact necessary to make the sense clear. ἀφ̓ ἑαυτῶν—‘of themselves’, on their own authority; iv. 68, 2, ἀφ̓ ἑαυτοῦ γνώμης.

καὶ ὁ Ἆγις—‘and Agis likewise’; this is a subordinate part of the main division under μέν. αὐτός—‘by himself’, on his own authority. οὐδέ—no more than the two Argives.

ἀλλ̓ ἤ—‘except’; ch. 80, 8: iii. 71, 1, μηδετέρους δέχεσθαι α:λλ̓ ἢ μιᾷ νηἰ η:συχάζοντας. κοινώσας—without an ex pressed object, as we say ‘having communicated with’: so iv. 2, 1, etc. τῶν ἐν τέλει—two ephors, besides other officials, accompanied the king on service. They are enumerated in Arnold's note. Classen suggests ξυστρατευομένῳ as a possible alteration for ξυστρατευομένων.

ἔδει—‘they were to’, as arranged with Agis. τῶν ἄλλων ξυμμάχων—as opposed to the Lacedaemonians. ἄλλος is used, as in i. 128, 5, κρύφα τῶν ἄλλων ξυμμάχων, for the sake of sharper contrast. Kruger suggests ξυναρχόντων or ξυμβούλων, but no change seems required.

ἐν αἰτίᾳ—i. 35, 4, ἐν πλείονι αἰτίᾳ ὑμᾶς ἕξομεν: so infr. line 25. παρατυχόν—so i. 76, 2: line 29, παρασχόν. αὐτῶν ineans the Argives and their allies: it is a good instance of the sense of this word being gathered from the context. ἄξιον—so v. 34, 1, ἄξια τῆς προσδοκίας: vi. 21, 1, ἄξιον τῆς διανοίας.

στρατόπεδον ..ξυνῆλθεν—this clause resembles i. 1, 2, κίνησις γὰρ αὕτη μεγίστη δὴ τοῖς Ἕλλησιν ἐγένετο: where Classen collects a number of similar sentences, e.g. i. 50, 2, ναυμαχία γὰρ αὕτη μεγίστη δὴ τῶν πρὸ αὐτῆς γεγένηται. In these instances the pronoun (τοῦτο), which is the subject, is placed between the substantive (στρατόπεδον), which is appositional, and a superlative (κάλλιστον) which with the verb (ξυνῆλθεν) forms the predicate. Ἑλληνικόν is appositional with a limiting force: the whole being equivalent to τοῦτο κάλλιστον ἦν τῶν Ἑλληνικῶν στρατοπέδων ἃ μέχρι τοῦδε ξυνῆλθεν. The initial substantive from its position is in effect like a genitive plural (στρατοπέδων), introducing a general idea of which a particular case is to be described. Classen also cites a few variations from the regular arrangement.

κάλλιστον τῶν—see last note: so i. 1, 1, ἀξιολογώτατον τῶν προγεγενημένων, where Classen compares Tac. Hist. i. 50, solus omnium ante se principum. Milton imitates the construction: Paradise Lost, iv. 324, Adam the goodliest of men since born His sons, the fairest of her daughters Eve. So Midsummer Night's Dream, v. 1. 239, This is the greatest error of all the rest. This army was κάλλιστον, being composed of picked troops. Others may have been larger, for instance the force under Pausanias at Plataea.

ὤφθη—sc. κάλλιστον ὄν. ἀθρόον—apparently the whole force was collected at Nemea, after withdrawing from before Argos; or ἐν may simply mean ‘near’. The army then marched away by the regular Nemean road, and broke up. ἐν ᾦ—when the divisions were united. The phrase refers to circumstances previously mentioned; iv. 18, 2, ἐν ᾧ πᾶσι τὸ αὐτὸ ὁμοίως ὑπάρχει. Krüger renders it ‘at which point’, saying that παρῆσαν would be required if time were meant.

πανστρατιᾷ—both position and sense show that this belongs to the Lacedaemonians only, who had marched out πανδημεί: see ch. 57. The Phliasians, it is true, had called out their whole force, but here they are merely named in the general list of the allies, the rest of whom were represented by picked contingents. Those editors who refer πανστρατιᾷ to all the nominatives are obliged to render it ‘with all the troops they had in the field’; which is simply explaining the word away.

καὶ οὖτοι—‘these also being picked men’, in apposition to the preceding subjects. ἀξιόμαχοι δοκοῦντες—‘looking a match,’ rather than ‘thinking themselves’, cf. ὤφθη supra. καὶ ἅλλῃ—this is the manuscript reading, and represents άξιόμαχοι ἐδόκουν εἶναι καὶ ἄλλῃ ξυμμαχίᾳ προσγενομένῃ (= εἰ προσγένοιτο), which is perfectly good Greek and gives a satisfactory sense. Krüger however and others adopt κἂν ἄλλῃ, on the ground that the idea represented is καὶ ἄλλῃ ἂν ἀξιομάχοι ἐδόκουν εἶναι εἰ προσεγένετο. I cannot see that the alteration is necessary, or even desirable: cf. note on τειχισθέν, ch. 52, 17; and Goodwin § 213—217, for ἄν with participles.

στρατόπεδον—followed by the plural; so i. 89, 3, Ἀθηναίων τὸ κοινόν...διεκομίζοντο: iii. 80, 1, ὁ δῆμος...ᾔεσαν ἐς λόγους. ἀνεχώρουν, like εἵποντο, line 11, denotes the beginning and continuance of the retreat.

καὶ αὐτοί—‘on their own part also’. καὶ ἐκεῖνοι—i.e, no less than the Lacedaemonians, with whom they are emphatically contrasted by the use of this pronoun; cf. iv. 73, 4, οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι...ἡσύχαζον καὶ αὐτοί...λογιζόμενοι καὶ οἱ έκείνων στρατηγοί, where both αὐτοί and ἐκείνων refer to the Athenians. See also note on iv. 37, 2, παραδοῦναι σφᾶς αὐτοὺς Ἀθηναίοις ὤστε βουλεῦσαι ὅ τι ἂν ἐκείνοις δοκῇ: and of Shilleto on i. 132, 3.

μὴ ἂν...παρασχόν—‘when they never could have had a better chance’; see Krüger on i. 76, 1, εὖ ἴσμεν μὴ ἂν ἧσσον ὐμᾶς λυπηροὺς γενομένους: and note on ch. 49, 24. For ἄν with a participle, see Goodwin § 41, 3: and for παρασχόν cf. ch. 14, 14.

ἐν τῷ Χαράδρῳ—the bed of a winter torrent, which flows close under the walls of Argos. ‘The military courts were held without the city, because within the walls the ordinary law, with its forms and privileges, would have resumed its authority...So also the Comitia Centuriata at Rome always met in the Campus Martius without the walls, because their original character and divisions were military’ (Arnold).