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

φάσκοντες πρότερον—see ch. 35, 14. ὅσα τῆς ξυνθήκης—the editors seem to take ξυνθήκης as dependent on ὅσα and ἐξελελοίπεσαν as active. It seems better to regard ἐξελελοί- πεσαν as intransitive, governing ξυνθἡκης, with ὅσα as cognate accusative. It is not clear whether ἐνόμιζον ἐξηπατῆσθαι is a main statement, or a subordinate one with ὄσα supplied. The monotonous account of intrigues and counter-intrigues is broken for a moment by the mention of Alcibiades, who now for the first time comes upon the scene. He is the first man of commanding a bilities who appeared at Athens since the death of Pericles, and henceforward the most prominent character to the close of our author's history.

αὖ—‘in their turn, on their side’, as opposed to the war party in Sparta. ἐνέκειντο—instabant, see note on iv. 22, 2.

ἡλικίᾳ. νέος—the age of Alcibiades is a subject of some discussion, owing to the loose language of the authorities we have. Their statements are collected in Poppo's edition. It seems however agreed that he was in his fifth year when his father Cleinias fell at Coronea in 447. He served in the expedition to Potidaea in 432 (i. 61 sq.), ἔτι μειρἀκιον ὤν (Plut. Alc. 7). He was therefore now about thirty.

ὡς ἐν ἄλλῃ πόλει—‘ut in alia civitate’; see note on iv. 84. 2, ὡς Λακεδαιμόνιος. Thirty appears to have been the recognized age in Grecian states for entering on public life.

ἀξιώματι προγόνων—according to Plutarch Alcibiades claimed descent from Eurysaces the son of Ajax. His mother was Dinomache, of the family of the Alcmaeonidae. In Dem. Meid. 561 § 144, where there is a description of the ancestry and achievements of Alcibiades, he is carelessly said πρὸς πατρὸς Ἀλκμαιωνιδῶν εἶναι.

καὶ ἄμεινον—he supported the Argives from actual conviction also, as well as on other grounds. οὐ μέντοι ἀλλά— Krüger quotes Plato Phaed. 62 B, δόξειεν οὔτω γ̓ εἶναι ἄλογον: οὐ μέντοι ἀλλ̓ ἴσως ἔχει τινὰ λόγον: see Liddell and Scott, ἀλλά, ii. 4. φρονήματι φιλονεικῶν—φρόνημα is personal pride and self-esteem; as in ii. 43, 6, ἀνδρί γε φρόνημα ἔχοντι: cf. ch. 40, 14. For the construction cf. iv. 64, 1, μωρίᾳ φιλονεικῶν.

Λάχητος—Laches is named next to Nicias in the lists of signatories in ch. 19 and 24. He also moved the ratification of the year's truce with Sparta in 423 (iv. 118. 7). ἔπραξαν— ‘effected’ or ‘negotiated’; cf. what Alcibiades says at Sparta, vi. 89, 2, ὐμεῖς πρὸς Ἁθηναίους καταλλασσόμενοι τοῖς μὲν ἐμοῖς ἐχθροῖς δύναμιν, δἰ ἐκείνων πράξαντες, ἑμοὶ δὲ ἀτιμίαν περιέθετε. Note the emphatic position of αὐτόν. Most manuscripts have ἑαυτὀν, which Classen reads.

κατἀ—lit. ‘in accordance with’. προξενίαν—cf. vi. 89, 2, τῶν δ̓ ἐμῶν προγόνων τὴν προξενίαν ὑμῶν κατά τι ἔγκλημα ἀπειποντων, αὐτὸς ἐγὼ πάλιν ἀναλαμβάνων ἐθεράπευον ὑμᾶς ἄλλα τε καὶ περὶ τὴν ἐκ Πύλου ξυμφοράν. For the position of ποτὲ οὖσαν see ch. 34, 6: 35, 24 etc.

πανταχόθεν τε—‘and so feeling himself slighted (at a disadvantage) in every way’; τε sums up and concludes. For ἐλασσοῦσθαι cf. ch. 30, 18. τό τε πρῶτον καὶ τότε—‘as at first so now’; ch. 75, 27: cf. note on iv. 103, 4, ἔπραξάν τε ἐκ πλείονος .καὶ τότε.

βεβαίους—‘to be relied on’; iii. 11, 1, βεβαιότεροι ἂν ἡμῖν ἦσαν μηδὲν νεωτεριεῖν. σφίσι=‘with us’, as in ch. 37, 9: 72, 10. ἐξέλωσι=expugnent, evertant; iv. 122, 6, Σκιωναίους ἐξελεῖν: also with names of places. Classen notes that in this sense the aorist is always used.