Charles F. Smith, Commentary on Thucydides: Book 3

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If therefore we cannot, even by accepting Cleon's proposal, attain certainty for the future, we ought not by pitiless severity to drive those who revolt to desperate resistance, thereby depriving ourselves of the basis of our own power, in that we shall have recovered the cities only after they are ruined.

οὐκ οὖν χρὴ οὔτε τοῦ θανάτου . . . βουλεύσασθαι, οὔτε kte(.: only the first οὔτε clause is strictly a deduction from the argument of c. 45; hence the two οὔτε clauses stand related to each other as the τε . . . καί clauses in c. 38. 27; ii. 39. 24, the emphasis being on the first.—

ἐχεγγύῳ: Schol., βεβαίῳ, ἰσχυρᾷ ὡς ἐγγυῆσαι δυναμένῃ. The word seems to be found elsewhere only in Tragedy and late Greek. Cf. Soph. O. C. 284; Eur. Med. 386; Andr. 191; Phoen. 759; Dio C. xliv. 25 ἐχεγγύῳ πίστει τὸ βέβαιον προνοήσετε. Cf. φερεγγυώτατος, viii. 68. 22. —2.

χεῖρον βουλεύσασθαι: as in i. 73. 7; here a euphemism for θάνατον ψηφίσασθαι Μυτιληναίων. Cf. εὖ βουλεύεται, c. 48. 7; εὐβουλία, c. 42. 4; 44. 4.—

οὔτε ἀνέλπιστον καταστῆσαι . . . ὡς οὐκ ἔσται: i.e. οὐκ ἀνέλπιστον ποιῆσαι τὸ μεταγνῶναι. Cf. c. 40. § 8. The const. ἀνέλπιστον καταστῆσαι τοῖς ἀποστᾶσιν, as in i. 140. 30; ii. 89. 47; vii. 44. 26; viii. 66. 24.—3.

ὡς οὐκ ἔσται: pleonastic neg. after ἀνέλπιστον. Cf. ἀντέλεγον ὡς οὐ κτἑ., i. 77. 13. H. 1029 a; Kr. Spr. 67, 12, 2; Kühn. 516, 3 b. See on c. 32. 13; i. 77. 13. οὐκ ἔσται, it will not be possible, with inf.; in this sense usually with subst. This pregnant force of the verb is freq., esp. after a neg. See on i. 2. 5.—4.

ὅτι ἐν βραχυτάτῳ: the prep. regularly stands after ὅτι, ὡς, thus used with a superlative. Kr. Spr. 49, 10, 1; Kühn. 452, N. 3. Cf. ὅτι ἐπ̓ ἐλάχιστον, See on i. 63. 5; ii. 34. 24; and for similar const. in Lat., Madvig on Cic. de Fin. v. 9. 26.—

τὴν ἁμαρτίαν καταλῦσαι: suum peccatum eluere. Cf. μεῖζον ἔγκλημα λῦσαι, i. 42. 11; ἐγκλήματα καταλῦσαι, i. 82. 24; διαλύσειν τὴν διαβολήν, i. 131. 12; λῦσαι τὰς πρότερον ἁμαρτίας, Ar. Ran. 691. For the act., where the mid. might have been expected, see Kühn. 375, 2.

νῦν μέν: of the present situation, analogous to the more common νῦν δέ, and opp. to ἐκείνως δέ below, as in vi. 11. 9.—

καί: emphatic with ἀποστᾶσα. Not, as Kr. and Steup, with ἤν. There is a reference to c. 45. § 2, but the emphasis is here on the tense, even after it has revolted. —6.

περιεσομένη: as in c. 45. 4.—

ἔλθοι ἄν: softened expression for the regular fut. ind. GMT. 505; H. 901 a. Cf. the reverse form of condition, i. 121. 13.—7.

ἔτι: belongs to οὖσα.— ἀποδοῦναι, ὑποτελεῖν: aor. of single act of payment of war costs; pres. of regular tribute.—8.

ἐκείνως δέ: as in i. 77. 13; vi. 11. 10.—

τίνα ἥντινα οὐκ: see on c. 39. 38. This const., as well as the form of expression throughout, shows that outward similarity to Cleon's words, though with opposite purpose, is sought.—9.

παρασκευάσασθαι: the aor. is the reading of nearly all the Mss. for the vulg. παρασκευάς εσθαι. Steup retains the aor., comparing for similar change of tense, as here from παρασκευάσαθαι to παρατενεῖσθαι, iv. 28. 26, 28; 52. 16, 17; vi. 24. 3, 13; viii. 5. 35. It would seem better, with St., to write the future. See Qu. Gr.^{2} p. 10 sq. But see App. on this passage and on ii. 3. 8.—

πολιορκίᾳ τε παρατενεῖσθαι ἐς τοὔσχατον: will suffer themselves to be reduced by siege to the last extremity. Cf. Ar. Nub. 213 (of Euboea) ὑπὸ γὰρ ἡμῶν παρετάθη καὶ Ηερικλέους (explained by Schol., ἐξετρυχώθη καὶ κατεπονήθη), Plato Symp. 207 b τῷ λιμῷ παρατείνεσθαι. Also Xen. Cyrop. i. 3. 11; Mem. iii. 13. 6. On fut. mid. used as pass., see Kühn. 376, N. 1; Kr. Spr. 40, s.v. Cf. vii. 48. 37. The meaning hold out, resist to the last, seems not to occur except in Dio C. and other late writers. τε, correl. to μέν joined to an emphatic word, marks a change from an adversative const. to a simple connexion. Kühn. 530, l. Cf. i. 144. 10; ii. 70. 12.—10.

δύναται: valet, means, ξυμβῆναι being subj., τὸ αὐτό object. Cf. i. 141. 5; vi. 36. 9.

ἡμῖν τε kte(.: answering and almost parodying c. 39. § 8, hence possibly δέ (for τε) should be written as there.—

καθημένοις: sc. in tedious siege. Cf. iv. 124. 24; v. 6. 22.—

διὰ τὸ ἀξύμβατον: on account of the impossibility of coming to terms. The ξύμβασις implied has reference to both sides; neither is inclined to it. The final capitulation is here not regarded as a ξύμβασις. The word ἀξύμβατον, though rare, is sufficiently explained by l. 6 and 10. It seems to be used elsewhere only in late writers, e.g. Polyb. xv. 9. 1. Cf. ἀσυμβάτως ἔχειν, Plut. Cic. 46; Cam. 17; Dion 21.—12.

καὶ ἢν ἕλωμεν: corresponding to τυχόντες in c. 39. 42, and without expressed object.—13.

ἀπ̓ αὐτῆς: for omission of art. after τῆς προσόδου, see Kr. Spr. 50, 9, 9. Cf. ii. 52. 2. —

ἰσχύομεν . . . τῷδε: sc. τῷ τὰς προσόδους εὖ ἔχειν. Cf. c. 39. 43; i. 122. 2. With the sentiment of the passage, cf. also v. 93. 2 ἡμεῖς δὲ μὴ διαφθείραντες ὑμᾶς κερδαίνοιμεν ἄν. Jow. quotes Burke's speech on Conciliation with America: ‘A further objection to force is, that you impair the object by your very endeavours to preserve it. The thing you fought for is not the thing which you recover; but depreciated, sunk, wasted, and consumed in the contest. Nothing less will content me than whole America. I do not choose to consume its strength along with our own; because in all parts it is the British strength that I consume.’

ὥστε οὐ δικαστὰς ὄντας kte(.: cf. the concluding sent. of c. 44. With δικαστὰς ὄντας βλάπτεσθαι, cf. i. 71. 6 ἀμυνόμενοι μὴ βλάπτεσθαι. βλάπτεσθαι is passive.—17.

ἐς χρημάτων λόγον ἰσχυούσαις: strong in point of money. The unusual form of expression (for χρήμασιν ἰσχυούσαις) is used to emphasize the restriction of the ἰσχύειν of the allied cities to the matter of money, whereas the Athenians πρὸς τοὺς πολεμίους ἰσχύουσιν. With ἐς χρημάτων λόγον, cf. Dem. xix. 142 εἰς ἀρετῆς λόγον καὶ δόξης, Lys. xix. 61 οὐ μόνον πρὸς δόξαν ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐς χρημάτων λόγον λυσιτελεῖ μᾶλλον ὑμῖν ἀποψηφίσασθαι, Hdt. iii. 99. 12; vii. 9. β 13 ἐς τούτου λόγον, iii. 125. 14 ἐν ἀνδραπόδων λόγῳ, vii. 222. 5 ἐν ὁμήρων λόγῳ, also Plut. Lys. 30; Dion. H. v. 34; xi. 17.—18.

τὴν φυλακὴν ποιεῖσθαι: = φυλάττεσθαι, with ἀπό to indicate source.—

τῶν νόμων τῆς δεινότητος: for the order, see on c. 23. 27; i. 32. 8. The context shows that the reference is merely to the principle of extreme punishment which would be established by the adoption of Cleon's proposal (cf. § 1 ἀνέλπιστον καταστῆσαι τοῖς ἀποστᾶσιν . . . καταλῦσαι). Holzapfel (Rh. Mus. xxxvii. p. 455) therefore wrongly assumes a reference to laws already existing.—19.

ἀπὸ

τῶν ἔργων τῆς ἐπιμελείας: by having care of our own actions, as explained in l. 23 ff.

οὗ: see on c. 39. 1; 43. 1.—

ἐλεύθερον καὶ βίᾳ ἀρχόμενον: i.e. a state which is free acc. to the terms of alliance, and therefore ὑπήκοος against its will. Diodotus openly acknowledges the true relation (cf. c. 10. 18 αὐτόνομοι δὴ ὄντες καὶ ἐλεύθεροι τῷ ὀνόματι), in order to show that the revolt was not unreasonable.—21.

εἰκότως: because βίᾳ ἄρχεται.—ἀποστάντα: with πρός elsewhere of the party which revolters join (v. 14. 25; vii. 58. 10), here with πρὸς αὐτονομίαν applied by a sort of word-play to the new political situation.

οὐκ ἀφισταμένους: (not ἀποστάντας) to indicate the moment when it is too late, not when they are revolting.—24.

σφόδρα φυλάσσειν: the adv. repeated, as εὖ in c. 42. 12.— 25.

προκαταλαμβάνειν: see on c. 2. 15.—

ὅπως μηδ̓ . . . ἵωσι: that this may not even occur to them. Cf. iv. 92. 1. τούτου, sc. τοῦ ἀφίστασθαι.— 26. ὅτι ἐπ̓ ἐλάχιστον: of extent, to put the blame on as few as possible. For position of the prep., see on The assertion of this principle introduces the argument against Cleon's demand, c. 39. 32 μὴ τοῖς μὲν ὀλίγοις ἡ αἰτία προστεθῇ, τὸν δὲ δῆμον ἀπολύσητε, to which c. 47 is devoted.—

τὴν αἰτίαν ἐπιφέρειν: see on c. 42. 17.