Harold North Fowler, Commentary on Thucydides Book 5

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The Eleans make an alliance with Corinth and Argos, because they have a quarrel with the Lacedaemonians about Lepreum. Thereupon the Corinthians join the Argive alliance, as do also the Thracian Chalcidians. The Boeotians and Megarians keep quiet.

ἐποιήσαντο: see App.

καθάπερ προείρητο: in the proclamation which the Argives made (c. 28. § 1), acting on the advice of the Corinthians (c. 27. § 2).

Λεπρέου: Lepreum in Triphylia, not far from the boundaries of Elis and Laconia (c. 34. 7). Remains of its fortifications still exist. Curtius, Pelop. II. p. 84.

ἐπὶ τῇ ἡμισείᾳ τῆς γῆς: “on the condition that they should cede half of their land” to the Eleans. Kühn. 405, 5 c.

καὶ λυσάντων: see App. The same subj. in the main clause and in the gen. abs. occurs freq. in Thuc. See on ii. 83. 15 and iii. 13. 30.—τὴν γῆν νεμομένοις αὐτοῖς: the Eleans allowed the Lepreans to remain in possession of the half of their land which they had relinquished, but obliged them to pay a rent of a talent to Olympian Zeus, whose temple was under the control of the Eleans.— 10. ἔταξαν: τάξαι is used of the im position of tribute in i. 19. 6; iii. 50. 6.

τοῦ Ἀττικοῦ πολέμου: see on c. 28. 13.

παυσαμένων: sc. τοῦ φόρου.

ἐπηνάγκαζον : “they prepared to force them,” impf. ἐπαναγκάζειν also in Plat. Prot. p. 345 e.— 14. ἐπιτραπείσης: “having been referred to the Lacedaemonians for arbitration.” Cf. i. 28. 9; iv. 83. 10; vii. 18. 24.

μὴ ἴσον ἕξειν: that they would not receive fair treatment at the hands of the Lacedaemonians.—ἀνέντες: shows that they had originally agreed to accept the arbitration: παυσάμενοι τοῦ ἐπιτρέψαι τὴν δίκην τοῖς Λακεδαιμονίοις, Schol. Equiv. to οὐκ ἐμμεινάντων τῇ ἐπιτροπῇ, 18.

οὐδὲν ἦσσον ἐδίκασαν: they gave their decision notwithstanding the refusal of the Eleans to acknowledge their jurisdiction.

ἀδικεῖν: were in the wrong.—ὡς οὐκ ἐμμεινάντων: “because they had, as they said, refused to submit to the judgment of those whom they had previously accepted as arbitrators.”

δέξασθαι: had taken under protection. Cf. i. 34. 2; 40. 17, 22.

τὴν ξυνθήκην: this agreement between the states hostile to Athens must have been made shortly before the outbreak of the Peloponnesian war. See Grote VI. p. 290. It is not mentioned elsewhere. See App.—προφέροντες: cf. c. 17. 11.

ἃ ἔχοντες, ταῦτα ἔχοντας: a quotation from the treaty, the formality of the expression being part of the official style “what any (τινες) had when they entered upon the war, that shall they have when they leave it.”

ὡς οὐκ ἴσον ἔχοντες: “on the ground that they had not received what was their due.”

ὥσπερ προείρητο; cf. καθάπερ προείρητο, 3.

οἱ ἐπὶ Θρᾴκης Χαλκιδῆς: their independence was most endangered by the peace (see c. 18. § 5 and § 8).

Βοιωτοὶ δὲ καὶ Μεγαρῆς: their envoys were present in Corinth at the discussions, acc. to c. 30. 11 f. and 17. 18 f.—τὸ αὐτὸ λέγοντες: τὴν αὐτὴν γνώμην ἔχοντες, Schol., and so also in iv. 20. 17, i.e. “though they were of the same mind” as the Corinthians and Chalcidians. Böhme and Jowett explain “saying the same thing,” i.e. “agreeing”: “the Boeotians and Megarians agreed to refuse” (Jowett).

ἡσύχαζον: equiv. to οὐκ ἐνεωτέριζον, as in ii. 3. 5; v. 22. 12, they remained quiet.—περιορώμενοι: mid. as in vi. 93. 3, μέλλοντες δ᾽ ἔτι καὶ περιορώμενοι. See on iv. 71. 7, ἀμφοτέροις ἐδόκει ἡσυχάσασι τὸ μέλλον περιιδεῖν (the aor. mid. is not in use), where the two expressions are joined as here. The sense of the passage is: “they were of the same mind as the Corinthians, but remained quiet awaiting the event and thinking,” etc. See App.

αὐτοῖς: them themselves. Boeotians as well as Megarians, who in the summer of 424 B.C., ἐς ὀλιγαρχίαν τὰ μάλιστα κατέστησαν τὴν πολιτείαν. Cf. iv. 74. 16.

πολιτείας: political constitution, as in i. 18. 9; ii. 37. 1.