Harold North Fowler, Commentary on Thucydides Book 5

ξυνιέναι ἔμελλον: cf. c. 59. 22; iv. 94. 10.

καὶ ἅμα: and besides, stands opp. to and in close connexion with the preceding τε, adding emphasis to the second clause. ἅμα is not to be const. with ἀρχῆς καὶ δουλείας.

τὴν μέν : τουτέστι τὴν ἀρχήν, Schol.—μή: const. with ἀφαιρεθῆναι: not to lose. πειρασαμένοις is affirmative: after they had made a trial of it. (This relation is reversed in ii. 44. 9, ὧν ἄντις μὴ πειρασάμενος ἀγαθῶν στερίσκηται.) For the truth of the statement, see c. 29. 3 ff.

ἀφαιρεθῆναι, πειρᾶσθαι: the infs. denote the end or purpose of ἡ μάχη ἔσται, as in ii. 89. 45, ὁ δὲ ἀγὼν μέγας ὑμῖν, ἢ καταλῦσαι τὴν ἐλπίδα ἢ καταστῆσαι τὸν φόβον, the infs. express the purpose of ὁ ἀγών. GMT. 97; H. 951.—τῆς δέ: sc. τῆς δουλείας, their former subjection to the supremacy of Sparta, for this is the meaning of δουλεία.—Ἀργείοις δέ: sc. παραινέσεις ἐγίγνοντο. The object of the struggle is introduced as above by the prep. ὑπέρ, and the end to be attained is expressed by the infs. μὴ ἀνέχεσθαι and καὶ ἅμα ἀμύνασθαι.

τῆς τε παλαιᾶς ἡγεμονίας : this refers to the earliest times and the rule of Atridae, while τῆς ἐν Πελοποννήσῳ ἰσομοιρίας refers to the later relation to Sparta (in the times before the Persian war; see c. 41. 15), which is thus expressed by Hdt.vii. 149. 17, οἱ Ἀργεῖοί φασι οὐκ ἀνασχέσθαι τῶν Σπαρτιητέων τὴν πλεονεξίην. The opposition of these two relations is expressed by τε, καί.

διὰ παντός : for ever. See on i. 38. 2.—στερισκομένους: supplementary partic. with ἀνέχεσθαι. GMT. 112, 1; H. 983. Cf. i. 77. 6, δεινότερα τούτων πάσχοντες ἠνείχοντο; ii. 74. 2, ἠνείχοντο καὶ γῆν τεμνομένην; vi. 16. 20.

καὶ ἅμα: as in 4.

ἀμύνασθαι: aor., refers to the particular battle before them.—εἶναι: the inf. depends, as does also the clause ὅτι . . . ἕξουσι, upon the idea of indir. dise. introduced by παραινέσεις ἐγιγνοντο.

ἐν Πελοποννήσῳ : is em phatic: “on their own ground.” If the Lacedaemonians could be defeated there, the Athenians need never fear an attack from them in Attica, either by ἐσβολαί or ἐπιτειχισμός. This confident expectation is expressed here, as in iv. 95. 6, by the strongest form of the neg. fut. οὐ μή ποτε with the aor. subjv. GMT. 89, 1; H. 1032. This clause is dependent upon ὅτι in 12.

καθ᾽ ἑκάστους: refers to the various parts of the Lacedaemonian army as Herbst, Jahrbb. 1858, p. 712, has shown, who says, ‘for the Spartans regarded an army composed of Peloponnesian contingents as their own, as Lacedaemonian.’ Cf. ii. 39. 11. Opp. to the various contingents (καθ᾽ ἐκάστους) stand the Lacedaemonians themselves (ἐν σφίσιν αὐτοῖς). τὴν παρακέλευσιν ἐποιοῦντο belongs with both. But with καθ᾽ ἑκάστους this conveys only the general notion of exhortation, while for the Lacedaemonians proper the characteristic manner of the exhortation is described. Among themselves with (the aid of) war-songs they made their exhortation of the memory (i.e. by awakening the memory) of those things which they knew. μετὰ τῶν πολεμικῶν νόμων: νόμους πολεμικοὺς λέγει τὰ ᾁσματα ἅπερ ᾖδον οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι μέλλοντες μάχεσθαι, Schol. They sang the warsongs which arouse the courage. Cf. the fragments of Tyrt., Bergk, Poet. Lyr. Gr. II. p. 8 ff. νόμος is used in this sense by Plat. Legg. iii. 700 b See App.

ἐν σφίσιν αὐτοῖς ὧν ἠπίσταντο τὴν παρακέλευσιν τῆς μνήμης ἐποιοῦντο , κτἑ.: παρεκελεύοντο ἀλλήλοις μεμνῆσθαι ὧν μεμαθήκεσαν καὶ ἠπίσταντο, Schol. This consciousness, which they were to renew in their memory, is expressed in εἰδότες . . . παραίνεσιν.

ἀγαθοῖς οὖσιν : see App.