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

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τῷ Τισσαφέρνει, the dat. depends on ἄριστα εἶναι.

ὢν παρ᾽ ἐκείνοις Alcibiades was not literally with the king. Yet, residing with Tissaphernes at the local headquarters of the Persians, and being indirectly adviser to the king, he may be said to be living with ‘them.’

κάθοδον the noun of κατελθεῖν ( = κατάγεσθαι).

ἐπιθεραπεύων ‘working for his own restoration over and above’ the other motive. ἐπι- = insuper. Cf. c. 54, § 1, ἐπελπίζων. The word occurs only here and in c. 84, § 5, where it has a different meaning.

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τὰ μὲν καὶ . . ., answered by τὸ δὲ πλέον καὶ . . . P-S compares i. 90 (init.), where the second καὶ is absent. ἐς . . . ἐς Cobet, Nov. Lect. p. 347, would read πρὸς. Though these prepositions, from their compendia, are frequently confused (cf c. 31, § 3), it would become necessary to alter a large number of passages if we accepted Cobet's diction Cf. i. 90, δηλοῦντες ἐς τοὺς Ἀθηναίους; v. 45, ἢν ἐς τὸν δῆμον τοῦτο λέγωσιν.

τοὺς δυνατωτάτους connoting oligarchical tendencies. Cf. c. 21, and c. 44, § 1.

τοὺς βελτίστους ‘all good men and true,’ Jowett. The term, like τοὺς δυνατωτάτους (‘the most influential’), is of course capable of the quite literal meaning ‘the best’ (in a general sense). From Alcibiades' point of view the connotation is, however, obviously ‘the most aristocratic.’ For the arrogant application of the term (cf. optimates, boni, ἐσθλοί, κακοί, δειλοί), like our English ‘the best people,’ Jowett compares Theog. 289— νῦν δὲ τὰ τῶν ἀγαθῶν κακὰ γίνεται ἐσθλὰ κακοῖσιν ἀνδρῶν: ἡγοῦνται δ᾽ ἐκτραπέλοισι νόμοις.

Cf. c. 48, § 6, τοὺς καλοὺς κἀγαθοὺς ὀνομαζομένους.

ἐπ᾽ ὀλιγαρχίᾳ ‘on condition of the existence of an oligarchy.’ Cf. vii. 82, εἴ τις βούλεται, ἐπ᾽ ἐλευθερίᾳ ὡς σφᾶς ἀπιέναι.

οὐ πονηρίᾳ οὐδὲ δημοκρατίᾳ a kind of hendiadys. The latter term is explanatory of the former: ‘the villainous democracy,’ Jowett. οὐδὲ joins such explanations in negative sentences as καὶ does in those which are positive. Poppo refers to Alcibiades' opinion of the democracy and its ‘injustice’ in vi. 89. Cf. vi. 92, φυγάς εἰμι τῆς τῶν ἐξελασάντων πονηρίας.

τὸ δὲ πλέον . . . τριήραρχοι The subject is narrowed since the beginning of the long sentence. The soldiers generally at Samos heard of Alcibiades' power, but it was only to the aristocratical party that he sent, and only the same party was striving of its own accord. The order of sense is ἐπειδὴ ᾔσθοντο . . . οἱ στρατιῶται, οἱ τριήραρχοί τε καὶ δυνατώτατοι ὥρμηντο ἐς τὸ καταλῦσαι τὸν δῆμον, τὰ μὲν καὶ Ἀ. προσπέμψαντος λόγους, τὸ δὲ πλέον καὶ ἀπὸ σφῶν αὐτῶν.

ἀπὸ σφῶν αὐτῶν sua sponte. Cf. c. 6, § 1, ἀφ᾽ ἑαυτοῦ.

ὥρμηντο Cf. c. 11, § 3, ὡρμημένων, etc.