Charles F. Smith, Commentary on Thucydides Book 6

στορέσωμεν τὸ φρόνημα: the Schol. remarks τῶν παρὰ Θουκυδίδῃ τροπικῶν ὀνομάτων τὸ σκληρότατον τοῦτό ἐστι, ἀλλὰ κατὰ Ἀλκιβιάδην φησίν. The figure is taken from the stilling of stormy waves. ἐστόρεσεν δὲ θεὸς μεγακήτεα πόντον Hom. γ 158 (cf. Hdt. 7. 193. 2). Cf. στορέσαι τὴν ὀργήν Aesch. Prom. 190; Ἀθηναῖοι Μαραθῶνι χρυσοφόρων Μήδων ἐστόρεσαν δύναμιν (inscription apud) Lycurg. c. Leocr. 109; “sternet Poenos Gallumque rebellem” Verg. Aen. 6. 858; stratis iam militum odiis Tac. Hist. 1. 58. Imitations in Plut. Lucull. 5; Caes. 25. See C. F. Smith, Trans. Amer. Phil. Assoc. XXXI, 75.

εἰ δόξομεν: if we shall seem, i.e. if it shall be said of us.—ὑπεριδόντες: see on 11. 17.— τὴν ἐν τῷ παρόντι ἡσυχίαν: our present quiet; directed esp. against the reproach of Nicias 11. 20 καταφρονήσαντες ἤδη καὶ Σικελίας ἐφίεσθε. What Nicias condemns, Alcibiades commends. Note καὶ (even) ἐπὶ Σικελίαν here as καὶ Σικελίας there.

καὶ ἅμα ἤ τῆς Ἑλλάδος...ἄρξωμεν, ἢ κακώσωμέν γε κτἑ.: still dependent on ἵνα (20). For the correlation τε . . . καὶ ἅμα, see App. on 4. 27. 4. Cl.'s restoration of the subjv. for the fut. (ἄρξομεν and κακώσομεν) is approved by Steup and Hude. Most editors accept the future and explain it as anacoluthic transition to independent const. But it seems more natural to continue the sentence as it began and express the chief goal of Aleibiades' ambition as something aimed at.— 23. τῷ εἰκότι: in all probability. Found only here; elsewhere Thuc. uses εἰκότως, ἐκ τοῦ εἰκότος, κατὰ τὸ εἰκός.

ἐν ᾧ : i.e. τῷ κακῶσαι Συρακοσίους (Schol.).— οἱ ξύμμαχοι: i.e. the allies in Sicily. —ὠφελησόμεθα: fut. mid. as pass., as 7. 67. 16.

τὸ δὲ ἀσφαλές: obj. of παρέξουσι and explained by καὶ μένειν, καὶ ἀπελθεῖν. Kr. renders (on the analogy of τὸ δὲ μέγιστον) what however is (or assures) security. Steup, satisfied with neither explanation, commends Gertz's conjecture τὸ δὲ ἀσφαλῶς.

ἤν τι προχωρῇ : Reiske's correction, with three inferior Mss., for προσχωρῇ. The question can only be of success in general here, not of the adhesion of new allies. For the expression, cf. 74. 11; 2. 5. 2; and Sall. Jug. 35. 4 sin id parum procedat.

παρέξουσι: ναυκράτορες: Valekenaer's correction for παρέξουσιν: αὐτοκράτορες of all the Mss. Cf. 5. 97. 5, 109. 7. For gen. dependent on ναυκράτορες St. compares Hdt. 5. 36. 11 ναυκρατέες τῆς θαλάσσης.

ἡ Νικίου κτἑ.: the art. covers both ἀπραγμοσύνη and διάστασις.

Νικίου τῶν λόγων : i.e. implied in Nicias' speech.

διάστασις...πρεσβυτέρους : putting the young at variance with the older men. The unusual dat. (for τῶν νέων) Kr. explains as due to the desire to avoid another gen., along with Νικίου τῶν λόγων, dependent on διάστασις.

ἀποτρέψῃ : so nearly all recent editors for ἀποστρέψῃ, which, “in fig. sense is prob. nowhere permissible” (Kr.). Cf. 8. 21, 19. 6, and see on 4. 80. 2.—οἱ πατέρες ἡμῶν...ἐς τάδε ἦραν αὐτά : it is doubtless intentional on the part of Thuc. to put into the mouth of Alcibiades, who would play the role of successor in Pericles' policy, almost the very words with which the latter just before the Peloponnesian War encourages the Athenians (1. 144. § 4): οἱ γοῦν πατέρες ἡμῶν ὑποστάντες Μήδους . . . ἐς τάδε προήγαγον αὐτά: ὧν οὐ χρὴ λείπεσθαι. Alcibiades, however, puts the merit of the fathers (i.e. of Pericles and his contemporaries) esp. in the fact that they, as the then young men, took counsel along with the older men (ἅμα νέοι γεραιτέροις βουλεύοντες), and uses this against the assertion of Nicias, 12. 15 τὸ πρᾶγμα μέγα εἶναι καὶ μὴ οἷον νεωτέρους βουλεύσασθαί τε καὶ ὀξέως μεταχειρίσαι. Cf. also the thoughts of Pericles 2. 36 with those of Alcibiades here.

ἅμα νέοι γεραιτέροις βουλεύοντες: as young men counseling with older men, the νέοι as part of the πατέρες taking same case. See on 31. 16. Note the separation, as often, of the gram. connected words. —ἐς τάδε ἦραν αὐτά: raised our power to this point. Cf. 1. 144. 25 ἐς τάδε προήγαγον αὐτά.

τό τε φαῦλον...καὶ τὸ πάνυ ἀκριβές : Alcibiades ironically takes the standpoint of Nicias, as if youth in its thoughtlessness were of little use, while age has the advantage of most careful reflection.—ἂν ξυγκραθὲν μάλιστ᾽ ἂν ἰσχύειν: ἄν repeated as in 1. 10 above.

ἂν μὲν ἡσυχάζῃ: for ἄν = ἐάν, see on 13. 4.—τρίψεσθαι αὐτὴν περὶ αὑτήν: will wear out of itself, i.e. without influence from outside. The verb as in 7. 42. 35. Cf. 8. 46. 13 αὐτοὺς περὶ ἑαυτοὺς τοὺς Ἕλληνας κατατρῖψαι. For the thought of the sent., cf. Liv. 30. 44 nulla magna civitas quiescere potest. si foris hostem non habet, domi invenit.

ὥσπερ καὶ ἄλλο τι: just as also anything clse. Cf. 1. 142. 24.—πάντων τὴν ἐπιστήμην ἐγγηράσεσθαι: sc. τὴν πόλιν, will grow old in knowledge of everything. So with St. and others. Cf. Liv. 1. 22. 2 senescere civitatem otio ratus undique materiam excitandi belli quaerebat. ἐγγηράσεσθαι, i.e. will grow old ἐν τῷ τρίβεσθαι. See on ἐλλαμπρύνεσθαι 12. 13. Steup takes ἐπιστήμην as subj., explaining ἐγγηράσεσθαι i.e. ἐν αὐτῇ（τῇ πόλει), and ἀγωνιζομένην he then makes agree with τὴν πόλιν as if no new subj. had intervened.

τὸ ἀμύνεσθαι...μᾶλλον ξύνηθες ἕξειν : will have self-defense more as a habit, opp. to the caution only theoretically recommended by Nicias (10. § 5, 11. § 7, 13. § 2). Cf. Sall. Jug. 85. 7 ita ad hoc aetatis a pueritia fui, ut omnes labores et pericula consueta habeam.

παράπαν τε γιγνώσκω: cf. the similar conclusion 37. 17 τό τε ξύμπαν . . . ἡγοῦμαι.

γιγνώσκω...μοι δοκεῖν : I declare that in my opinion. γιγνώσκω being thus understood (= censeo), the pleonasm is relieved.—μὴ ἀπράγμονα: not inactive in foreign politics.— 39. ἀπραγμοσύνησμεταβολῇ: by a change to political inactivity, recommended, acc. to Aleibiades (cf. 27 above) by Necias for Athens. Cf. ἡ ἐναντία μεταβολή, a change to the opposite, 2. 43. 26. In 76. 21 μεταβολή is exchange. Alcibiades is consciously using Pericles' terms with regard to the danger of an imperial state in keeping clear of foreign complications, though the situation is quite different. Cf. 2. 62. § 2, 3.

οἳ ἂν τοῖς παροῦσιν ἤθεσι...ἥκιστα διαφόρως πολιτεύωσιν : who in their politics are as little as possible at variance with established customs and laws, even when these are inferior. This view agrees in form and content with that of Cleon 3. 37. § 3. The dat. with the adv. διαφόρως as with the adj. Cf. διαφέρεσθαί τινι.

As the Athenians after Aleibiades' speech are more than ever in favor of the expedition, Nicias tries to frighten them by a strong picture of the efforts and the sacrifices that will be required.

τοιαῦτα μέν: Bk. expects τοιαῦτα δέ, doubtless after the analogy of 88. 1; 1. 44. 1, 79. 1; 3. 49. 1, 68. 1. But here and in 41. 1 exceptions are made to the rule that after a speech in reply narration is resumed with δέ, because in both these cases a further speech follows.

τῶν Ἐγεσταίων: it is quite natural that the ambassadors of the Egestaeans (8. § 1, 2) were present also in the ecclesia which was to determine about the equipment (8. § 3) of the fleet to be sent to Sicily.—Λεοντίνων: dependent on φυγάδων, and only to Λεοντίνων φυγάδων belongs οἵ. For the relations of the Leontines to Athens, cf. 3. 86. 12, and see App. on 6. 12; on the fortunes of the Leontines, cf. 5. 4. § 4 ff.; 6. 6. § 2. See App.

πολλῷ μᾶλλον...στρατεύειν : cf. 15. § 1.

ἀπὸ τῶν αὐτῶν λόγων: for ἀπό, by means of, cf. 1. 91. 28; 3. 48. 3; 7. 29. 6. Cf. ἐκ τῶν λόγων 1. 72. 11.— 7. ἐπιτάξειε: cf. 8. § 3.—παρελθὼν αὐτοῖς αὖθις ἔλεγε τοιάδε: αὐτοῖς, as well as αὖθις, belongs to παρελθών, see App.