E.C. Marchant, Commentary on Thucydides: Book 3

βεβαιότεροι—the personal constr. often found with ἄξιος, δίκαιος, ἱκανός.

καὶ πρὸς τὸ πλέον . . ἀντισουμένου—(I should prefer to insert ἂν before ἀντισουμένου, see Introd. p. xlii). The text means ‘since in contrast, moreover, with the majority who were already yielding, we alone still tried to keep on an equal footing with them.’ These words do not add much to what has been already said in ὑποχειρίους . . ὁμιλοῦντες, but, as Classen put it, refer to the conduct of the Lesbians as viewed by Athens.

τὸ ἡμέτερον, not ἡμεῖς, is used for the sake of the verbal contrast with τὸ πλέον. μόνου, if the text is sound, is (as Steup points out), not a proper antithesis to τὸ πλέον, and it is an awkward anticipation of the next clause, ἄλλως . . ἐρημότεροι.

τὸ δὲ ἀντίπαλον δέος—‘it is reciprocity of apprehension alone,’ as distinct from one-sided δέος. There is no objection to δέος, and no inconsistency with the opening words of c. 12, if the emphasis be put on ἀντίπαλον, as on προύχων in the next sentence, and if μόνον be taken as qualifying ἀντίπαλον rather than πιστόν.

γάρ—‘for in that case.’

ὅσον—quatenus, ‘so far as.’

ἐς τὴν ἀρχήν ‘with a view to their empire.’ (I see no reason whatever for rejecting these words, as Kruger and Steup do. They give the true object of the Athenian policy, and the mention of ἀρχή is appropriate enough in the presence of those who so strongly disliked it; cf. I. 75, with II. 8.）

γνώμης μᾶλλον ἐφόδῳ ἢ ἰσχύος—‘by means of policy and not of force.’

τὰ πράγματα . . καταληπτά—‘they might make themselves masters of the situation.’

ἅμα μέν.—this is the λόγος εὐπρεπής that they used as evidence that they were upright. The allies whom we attacked, they eould say, must have been in the wrong; otherwise those who have a vote in the confederacy equal to ours would never have been found at our side. The

μή is due to the protest implied in μ. ὲχρῶντο. If ἄκοντας is right, it must be put briefly for ἄκοντας ἂν ὄντας, ‘but would have been unwilling, unless’ etc. But this, even if possible, is extremely awkward, whereas ἑκόντας, read in a good scholium on this passage, gives the natural constr. and sense.

ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ=ἅμα: so IV. 73.

τὰ κράτιστα—for τοὺς κρατίστους.

[τὰ] τελευταῖα—it is clear that τὰ κράτιστα is object of λιπόντες, and τελευται_α is predicative; so that as there is no parallel for the article, it should be omitted.

τοῦ ἄλλου—neut. collective, and gen. abs.

αὐτῶν—in contrast with πρὸς ὅ τι χρὴ στῆναι (aid from others): πρὸς ὅ τι χρὴ στῆναι = ἡμᾶς τοὺς δυναμένους ἡγήσασθαι αὐτῶν (schol.). For the simple ἵστασθαι ‘rally’ with πρός cf. IV. 56 πρὸς τὴν ἐκείνων γνώμην ἕστασαν.

ἐχειρώσαντο—sc. τοὺς ξυμμάχους.

τό τε ναυτικόν—“a third reason is here given for the policy of the Athenians, of leaving the M. still independent,— namely, the apprehension of danger from driving them to unite their navy with that of the Peloponnesians” (Bloomfield).

καθ᾽ ἓν γενόμενον—standing alone this phrase would certainly mean ‘concentrating,’ ‘becoming united,’ as is proved by such passages as Xen. Hell. V. 2, 16 πῶς είκὸς ὑμᾶς τῆς μὲν Βοιωτίας ἐπιμεληθῆναι ὅπως μὴ καθ᾽ ἓν εἴη, πολὺ δὲ μείζονος ἁθροιζομένης δυνάμεως ἁμελῆσαι; This would give no point here, since the whole fleet is of course meant by τὸ ναυτικόν. The accepted meaning ‘uniting with others’ is only to be got through the addition, ἢ . . προσθέμενον, which must be regarded as an explanation. (Steup suggests that προσθέμενον should be removed, so that καθ᾽ ἓν γ. can be taken with the datives. I do not think it a likely note—in fact there is a scholium, ἐς ταὐτὸ ξυνελθόν, here—but I do think there is a difficulty, and possibly the first ή should be removed.)

τὰ δὲ καί—‘to some degree also’; a fourth and minor reason why the M. retained their independence. The schol. divides θεραπεία into flattery of the Athenian people and gifts to the leaders of the demos; no doubt these are included.

οὐ . . ἂν ἐδοκοῦμεν δυνηθῆναι=οὐκ ἂν ἐδυνήθημεν, ὡς ἐδόκει. δοκοῦμεν, read by Kruger (ἔτι δοκοῦμεν Steup) is simpler, but the imperf., referring to the time of the revolt, does not exclude the pres., and cf. c. 13 ἐνομίζομεν ἀποστήσεσθαι.

τοῖς—‘what had happened.’