T. G. Tucker, Commentary on Thucydides: Book 8

οἱ μὲν Χῖοι . . ., answered by τὰς δ᾽ ἄλλας . . . ἀναίσχυντοι εἶεν . . . ὄντες . . . ἀξιοῦσι This is probably what Thucydides wrote, though it would be easy to read εἶεν εἰ with Ba<*>er and Cobet, or εἰσιν εἰ with Kruger, or ἀναισχυντοῖεν εἰ with Madvig. ἀξιοῦντες would have been the true grammar, but the introduction of the clause by δ᾽ ὅμως and the intervening participle σῳζόμενοι have corrupted the construction. Less sudden changes from the participle to the finite verb occur in e.g. vii. 13 and 15. A somewhat similar instance to the present, though easier, is i. 132, μηνυτὴς γίγνεται, δείσας . . . καὶ παραποησάμενος σφραγῖδα . . . λύει . . . (where λύσας should have been written). ‘The Chians were shameless, being the richest of the Greeks, but they nevertheless demanded, etc.’ The change is, I think, analogous to one which is so familiar in relative sentences, e.g. Plat. Rep. 357 B, αἱ ἡδοναὶ ὅσαι ἀβλαβεῖς καὶ μηδὲν εἰς τὸν ἔπειτα χρόνον διὰ ταύτας γίγνεται ἄλλο ἢ χαίρειν ἔχοντα (for καὶ δι᾽ ἃς μηδὲν κ.τ.λ）

εἶεν . . . ἀξιοῦσι For the change of mood cf. c. 50, § 1, γνοὺς ὅτι ἔσοιτο λόγος καὶ ὅτι Ἀθηναῖοι ἐνδέξονται.

ἐκείνων emphatic for σφῶν. See c. 12, § 2 for the emphasis of ἐκεῖνος, and cf. c. 43, § 1.