C.E. Graves, Commentary on Thucydides: Book 5

τοὺς μὴ πείσαντας—μή gives a hypothetical force, ‘in case of failure’, lit. ‘those who might have failed’. The phrase here seemingly applies to all those who were conducting the intrigue. Kruger collects similar usages of the article on iii. 81, 3, τὴν αι:τίαν ἐπιφέροντες τοῖς τὸν δῆμον καταλύουσι, where the sense is equivalent to αὐτοῖς: cf. iv. 33, 2, καὶ οί ὑποστρέφοντες ήμύνοντο: iv. 46, 3, δεδιότες μὴ τοὺς ἐλθὀντας οὐκ ἀποκτείνωσι: see also ch. 5, 9.

οἱ δέ—for the order, and the position of ἐπειδή, cf. iii. 5, 1, οἱ δ̓ ἐκ τῶν Ἀθηνῶν πρέσβεις ὡς οὐδὲν ἦλθον πράξαντες, following a clause with καὶ οἱ μέν. The nominative is put first to mark the change of subject.

ἀνήνεγκαν—‘referred’, of laying a matter before an assembly; Hdt. i. 157, ἐς θεὸν ἀνοῖσαι (an unusual form): id. iii. 71, ἀναφέρειν ἐς πλεῦνας. τὰς ἀρχάς—ch. 47, 59: see note on τὰ τέλη, iv. 14, 1.

ποιεῖσθαι—‘should make’, dependent, like ἐξεῖναι, on the sense continued from ἐψηφίσαντο: so ch. 63, 17. For this use of the relative and mfinitive, which is found especially in quoting the provisions of a law, see Goodwin, § 756. μηδετέροις is governed by σπείσασθαι. For ἄνευ, ‘without the consent of’, cf. ch. 60, 28. iv. 78, 3, ἄνευ τοῦ πάντων κοινοῦ. τόν τε—τε and καί connect the two main ideas of the Argives, the prospect of war and the hope of supremacy; cf. ch. 11, 11. ἐπ᾽ ἐξόδῳ—ch. 14, 25. There and in ch. 22 we find that it was the Argives who refused to renew the truce.

ἐλπίσαντες—‘conceiving the hope’; note the force of the aorist: so in the next sentence κακῶς ἤκουσε κ.τ.λ ‘came into contempt’, etc. (Kruger suggests ἤκουε.)

ἥ τε οἵ τε—two main reasons co-ordinately stated; so i. 8, 3, ἐφιέμενοι τῶν κερδῶν οἵ τε ἥσσους.. οἵ τε δυνατώτεροι. μάλιστα δή—δή emphasizes the superlative; i. 1, 2, κίνησις αὕτη μεγίστη δή, ‘greatest of all’, not simply ‘very great’. διὰ τὰς ξυμφοράς—especially the surrender of Pylos, which is particularly called ξυμφορά, iv. 20, 2: iv. 22, 3, etc.: see ch. 75, 12.

τοῖς πᾶσιν—‘in all points’; vii. 50, 3, τοῖς πᾶσι χαλεπώτερον ἴσχοντα. ξυναράμενοι—‘having taken part in’; iv. 10, 1: the genitive is partitive. The accusative construction is also found ii. 71, 2, ξυνάρασθαι κίνδυνον, ‘to join in undertaking.’ ἐκκαρπωσάμενοι—‘having reaped profit thereout’, i.e. from their friendly neutrality, or from the war itself, which might bring gain to a neutral state. The scholiast takes it of the enjoyment of their own crops and revenues. Thucydides does not use the word elsewhere; καρποῦσθαι occurs twice.