previous next

But the next summer the democratic party comes again into power at Argos, and tries to secure itself by making an alliance with Athens and building long walls to the sea.

Διῆς: they were the inhabitants of the town of Dium (see iv. 109. 10), the same who had already (see c. 35. 1) engaged in hostilities toward Athens, and who now openly joined her enemies. Here, as in c. 35. 2, some inferior Mss. read Δικτιδιῆς.— 3. τὰ ἐν Ἀχαίᾳ οὐκ ἐπιτηδείως πρότερον ἔχοντα: cf. i. 19. 1 ff. At the beginning of the war only the Pelleneans were on the side of the Lacedaemonians. See ii. 9. 6.—καθίσταντο: sc. ἐπιτηδειότερον or ἐπὶ τὸ σφίσιν ὠφέλιμον. Cf. i. 76. 2.

δῆμος ἀναθαρσήσας ἐπέθεντο: δῆμος with adjs. in the sing, and the verb in the pl. occurs also in iii. 80. 1 f. G. 135, 3; H. 609.—κατ᾽ ὀλίγον ξυνιστάμενός τε καὶ ἀναθαρσήσας: the oligarchy which was established in Argos πρὸς ἔαρ, say in March (see c. 81. 10), lasted until the time of the gymnopaediae, a period of about five months, since this festival took place in Hecatombaeum (about July; see Schoemann, Griech. Alt. II. p. 460. Diod., xii. 80. 45, wrongly says that the oligarchy lasted eight months). During this period the secret meetings and deliberations (ξυνίστασθαι, as in ii. 88. 4; iii. 70. 24; viii. 65. 6) of the popular party were held, until sufficient confidence for a rising had been gained (ἀναθαρσήσας in the aor. denotes the conclusion of the deliberations expressed by the pres. ξυνιστάμενος). —κατ᾽ ὀλίγον: gradually, in continuous progress toward completion. Cf. i. 61. 18; 69. 13. (Cl. now adopts this explanation by St.) Paus., ii. 20. 2, says that this fierce insurrection broke out because the leader of the χίλιοι λογάδες (cf. c. 67. 13; 72. 14) outraged the betrothed bride of a man of the common people, and this may have been the immediate occasion of the outbreak.

τὰς γυμνοπαιδίας: ‘this was a festival somewhat resembling the Lupercalia at Rome, in which boys and men danced naked, each arranged in distinct chori, the movements expressing warlike and gymnastic contests; while at the same time coarse and licentious language was interchanged, as in the Roman triumphs.’ Arnold. The festival was mainly in honour of Apollo. See Schoemann, Griech. Alt. II. p. 460.

οὐκ ἦλθον ἐκ πλείονος: the sense of this passage evidently is: “while their friends were sending for them, they failed to come for a very long (or too long) time; but at last they postponed the festival and started on the march” (ἐβοήθουν impf.). The fact that they only went as far as Tegea before hearing of the revolution at Argos seems to show that they were in no great hurry. See App.— 11. προελθεῖν μέν, ἀναχωρήσαντες δέ: the opposition of these two parts of the sent. is very effective: “as to advancing, they had no idea of such a thing (οὐκ ἠθέλησαν); on the contrary, they went home and celebrated their festival.”

τῶν διαπεφευγότων: i.e. the members of the oligarchical party of Argos.

καὶ ἀγγέλων: see App.

ἀφ᾽ ἑκατέρων: see on iii. 36. 24. This prep. is freq. used with λέγεσθαι and similar words. In these speeches each party doubtless tried to justify itself and make its opponents seem completely in the wrong.

φοβούμενος, προσαγόμενος, νομίζων: these parties. all interpret τειχίζει μακρὰ τείχη. The chief reason is expressed in φοβούμενος τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους, which is further enlarged by πάλιν προσαγόμενος τὴν τῶν Ἀθηναίων ξυμμαχίαν and νομίζων μέγιστον ἂν σφᾶς ὠφελήσειν, these two expressions being closely connected by τε and καί. “The Argives undertook the building of long walls because they were afraid of the Lacedaemonians and (therefore) embraced the alliance of Athens and thought they should be greatly the gainers.”

προσαγόμενος: οἰκειούμενος, Schol. This act was a declaration in favour of the A thenian policy (and political ideas) and therefore in itself a renewal of the alliance with Athens, which remained in force from this time.

ὠφελήσειν: the subj. is not τὴν τῶν Ἀθηναίων ξυμμαχίαν, but is, as Herbst (Hamburg Progr. 1867, p. 32 f.) rightly observes, to be supplied from the following τειχίζει μακρὰ τείχη. This is further explained in ὅπως . . . ὠφελῇ: for κατὰ θάλασσαν ἐπαγωγὴ τῶν ἐπιτηδείων is the advantage derived from the long walls. μετὰ τῶν Ἀθηναίων is a secondary and necessary consequence. ἂν ὠφελήσειν is equiv. to ὅτι ὠφελήσει ἄν with the suppressed prot. ἢν τοῦτο γένηται. GMT. 37, 2; 53; H. 845; 861; 946. Cf. ii. 80. 40; vi. 66. 4; viii. 25. 28; and 71. 12 with App. See App.

ξυνῄδεσαν τὸν τειχισμόν: if this reading is correct, the knowing about or being privy to this project shows an inclination toward the philo-Athenian policy of Argos which was exhibited by the building of the long walls. See App.

τινες: interposed between the gens., as in i. 45. 8, ἐς τῶν ἐκείνων τι χωρίων.

λιθουργοί : so masons had been brought from Athens to assist in the circumvallation of Nisaea. See iv. 60. 6.

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.

hide References (20 total)
hide Display Preferences
Greek Display:
Arabic Display:
View by Default:
Browse Bar: