CHAPTER XLVI
χρόνον ὅν—so edited by Poppo and others as being in accordance with other passages, such as
iii. 18,
κατὰ τὸν αὐτὸν χρόνον ὃν οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι περἰ τὸν ἰσθμὸν ἦσαν, and as best accounting for the variation of reading here found. Others have
καθ᾽ ὅν: while the manuscript authority is in favour of omitting
ὅν, and reading
ταῦτα ἐγένετο, καί.... In this last case we have
καί connecting two statements of time, as is very common in New Testament Greek, e.g. Mk.
xv. 25,
ἦν δὲ ὤρα τρίτη καὶ ἐσταύρωσαν αὐτόν. So in Thuc. we have,
iii. 110,
τῷ δὲ Δημοσθένει ἀγγέλλεται...καὶ πέμπει: cf.
Soph. Phil. 355,
ἦν δ᾽ ἦμαρ δεύτερον...καὶ κατηγόμην. In the present passage
ὄν might have been omitted by a copyist from confusion with the last syllable of
χρόνον and
καθ᾽ ὄν subsequently added as an explanatory gloss.
τῆς Ἱστώνης—subjective gen., as we say the city of London. Thucydides elsewhere uses the appositional construction, as
iii. 85,
ἐς τὸ ὄρος τὴν Ἰστώνην: so line 14.
τότε, lit. ‘at that time’, refers to the events described in
iii. 85, and may be rendered ‘as we have related’:
viii. 20,
καταδιωχθεῖσαι τότε.
προσβαλόντες—‘having made their assault’, without a following case.
τὸ τείχισμα—called
τεῖχος iii. 85, a fortified position on Istone, held by 600 men.
ξυνέβησαν ὥστε—cf. ch. 37, 10: infr. line 16.
μέχρι οὗ—cf. ch. 41, 3, note.
ἅν—for
ἐάν, rarely used by Thucydides, though
ἥν is common. Possibly
ὥστ᾽ ἐάν should be read.
λελύσθαι—ch. 16, 18.
οἱ τοῦ δήμου προστάται—so
iii. 75: cf. ch. 66, 12, of Megara. The term appears to be a general one, sometimes implying a particular office and sometimes not: vid. Arnold on
vi. 35.
τοὺς ἐλθόντας—‘those who were sent’. Poppo suggests
αὐτοὺς ἐλθόντας, certainly a more usual form of expression: see however the note on
καὶ οἱ ὑποστρἐφοντες, ch. 33, 13.
πείθουσι...ἑτοιμάσειν—there is a slight irregularity in this sentence. The clause with
πείθουσι is lost sight of after the introduction of the participial clause
ὑποπέμψαντες φίλους, and
ὅτι κράτιστον εἴη depends upon
λἐγειν.
τινὰς ὀλίγους—‘some few’:
i. 63,
ὀλίγους μέν τινας ἀποβαλών. It was stipulated that any attempt at escape ended the treaty.
κατ᾽ εὔνοιαν δή—ch. 23, 8.
ὅτι...εἴη ..ἑτοιμάσειν— ὅτι only affects the former clause, the construction changing with the change of subject; so
i. 87,
εἶπον ὅτι δοκοῖεν..., βούλεσθαι δέ. It is not however quite clear whether
αὐτοί refers to the democratic leaders, the subject of
πείθουσι, or to
φίλοι, the subject of
λέγειν.
