E.C. Marchant, Commentary on Thucydides: Book 2

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ὀλίγον οὐδὲν—cf. VII. 59, 3, 87, 6; VIII. 15, 2. ὀλίγον is predicate.

τε—‘in fact,’ summing up the preceding remarks. Cf. 3 below.

ἔρρωντο—totis viribus incumbebant. Thuc. uses the literal sense only once, VII. 15.

οὐκ ἀπεικότως—so εἰκότως in the Orators is often followed by γάρ. Cf. I. 77, 5. So οὐκ ἀκουσίως below.

ἀρχόμενοι—i.e. there is greater enthusiasm at the beginning of an undertaking than after the first excitement has worn off.

ἀντιλαμβάνονται— sc. τῶν πραγμάτων, rem capessunt.

τότε δὲ—contrasted with πάντες. καὶ—an additional reason existed then.

νεότης —juventus. Cf. c. 20, 2, 21, 2. The abstract term, like ἡλικία, represents the young men as a power in the State. Cf. Pericles' remark, quoted by Aristot. Rhet. A. 7, 34 τὴν νεότητα ἐκ τῆς πόλεως ἀνῃρῆσθαι ὥσπερ τὸ ἔαρ ἐκ τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ εἰ ἐξαιρεθείη. ὑπ᾽ ἀπειρίας—so ὑπὸ is used with any noun denoting any state of mind which is the immediate cause of action. See c. 47, 4. παροιμία: γλυκὺς ἀπείρῳ πόλεμος [Pindar, frag. 87 Bergk] Schol.

ἡ ἄλλη Ἑλλὰς—all States in or outside Greece. Cf. I. 1, 1, 6, 1.

ξυνιουσῶν—pres. not fut. Cf. v. 59, 5, 71, 1.

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λόγια—a general term for all words, whether prose or verse, supposed to be ominous. Probably old stories of strange things in the past are here meant Pind Pyth. 1, 92.

ἐλέγετο—in other places the plur. verb appears after a neut. sing. (see not. crit.), viz.: I. 126, 5 ἐπῆλθον Ὀλύμπια (where CEG read ἐπῆλθεν); v. 75, 2 Καρνεῖα ἐτύγχανον ὄντα: though elsewhere names of festivals have the sing.; v. 26, 2 ἁμαρτήματα ἐγένοντο; VI. 62, 4 ἐγένοντο ἑκατὸν τάλαντα. “Ita rarus est hic plur, numeri usus apud veteres scriptores Atticos, ut fere suspiceris librariorum errores esse e Byzantinorum sermone illatos,” Herw.

πολλὰ δὲ—i.e. χρησμοί, which are collected and interpreted by χρησμολόγοι. ἦδον—contrasted with ἔλέγετο, since the χρησμοὶ were in verse; ‘recited.’ Cf. c. 54, 2. So cano often.

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Δῆλος ἐκινήθη—the centre of the Ionian race, which by its unique κίνησις foreshadowed an equally unique κίνησις of all Greece. Cf. I. 1, 2.

οὔπω—either Thuc. did not know of Herod. VI. 98, or he ignores it.

ἐπὶ—‘in view of.’ c. 36, 4.

σημῆναι—intrans., σημεῖον εἶναι. Cf. c. 43, 3, 49, 7.

ἀνεζητεῖτο—cf. VIII. 33, 4. Bloomf. quotes Aristoph. Lys. 28 πρᾶγμ᾽ ἀνεζητημένον, πολλαῖσιν ἀγρυπνίαισιν ἐρριπτασμένον.

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ἐποίει ἐς—a)nti\ tou= eu)noikw=s ei)=xon Schol. “Mira locutio”, says Herw. The phrase is only found here in Attic, but is imitated by late writers.

προειπόντων—cf. c. 5, 5; M.T. 850; and for Latin, Riemann, S.L. § 263; a convenient use of the gen. abs., in spite of the proximity of another case, to make a fresh predication without a new sentence. Cf. c. 83, 3; I. 114, 1; III. 13, 6, 22, 1.

ἐλευθεροῦσιν—the claim continually put forward by S., that she was a Liberator. She traded on the insane craving for αὐτονομία, the evil spirit by which the Greeks were possessed. A wanton abuse of terms must lead to disaster, and after misusing the word Freedom for a century, Greece ‘buried her Liberty’ on the field of Chaeronea.

καὶ λόγῳ καὶ ἔργῳ—sive ... sive. There are some 50 cases of this antithesis between λ. and ἔ. in Thuc., which is not surprising considering that (1) great importance was attached to words at Athens, apart from their truth or falsity; (2) Thuc. had but too good reason to contrast the professions of men with their deeds during the war. The antithesis underlies all diplomacy. The opening of the Funeral Oration, c. 35, is a contrast of λόγος and ἔργον. Cf. c. 40, 1, 41, 2, 4, 42, 2, 4, 43, 1, 2, 46, 1, 65, 9, 72, 1, 81, 2.

ἐν τούτῳ ... ᾧ—‘in any enterprise in which he did not take part.’ ᾧ depends on παρέσται, as in I. 22 οἷς αὐτὸς παρῆν. κεκωλῦσθαι—i.e. κεκώλυται εἰ μὴ αὐτὸς παρέσομαι, the perfect being used of something bound to happen in the future if the condition is fulfilled. Livy XXI. 43, 2 vicimus for vicerimus. Cf. IV. 46, 3 ὥστ᾽ ἐάν τις ἁλῷ ἀποδιδράσκων, ἅπασι λελύσθαι τὰς σπονδάς. The description of the friends of Sparta is not without a touch of sarcasm.

<ἐν> ὀργῇ εἶχον—c. 59, 2.

ἀρχθῶσι—ingressive, ‘become subjects.’

φοβούμενοι—the government of Sparta kept all its proceedings too secret for them to know the true nature of the Spartan oligarchy, which was to conduct them in many cases from democracy to decarchy.