Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War 6.15

ἐν κεφαλαίοις —such a recapitulation is especially appropriate to the peroration.

ὑπ’ αὐτῶν βλαπτώμεθα —for the result of their joining Syr. see c. 84, 1.

πολλὰ δ’ ἀναγκάζεσθαι —‘the expression here, πολλὰ πράσσειν, is susceptible of both a bad and a good sense: and such is its use in Eur. Sup. 576, where the Theban herald says to Theseus πράσσειν σὺ πόλλ’ εἴωθας ἥ τε σὴ πόλις, and Theseus replies τοίγαρ πονοῦσα πολλὰ πόλλ) εὐδαιμονεῖ’ (Bloomfield). πολυπραγμοσύνη was characteristic of Athenians and was thought a reproach to them. In II. 40 Pericles says that at Athens ὁ ἀπράγμων, the man who held aloof from public affairs, was thought ἀχρεῖος—of no use to the state.

πολλὰ φυλασσόμεθα —‘we have to guard against many dangers.’

οὐκ ἄκλητοι, παρακληθέντες δέ —Bloomfield quotes Aesch. Choeph. 825 ἥκω μὲν οὐκ ἄκλητος, ἀλλ’ ὑπάγγελος. The figure is a common one. Cf. Lys. 13, 19 ἄκοντα . . καὶ μὴ ἑκόντα μηνύειν.

δ χαλεπόν —refers to ἀποτρέπειν, which does not mean, as is usually thought, ‘to divert us from our scheme’ or enterprise, but ‘to divert us from our fixed, settled course of action’— i.e. τῶν ἡμῖν ποιουμένων, as in c. 38, 4 ἀποτρέπειν τῆς κακουργίας. See below on τρόπου. We are not submitting our general conduct to your judgment, but are claiming your votes in this particular case. In δικασταί and σωφρονισταί there is a reference to the coming division, which Hermocrates wished to make a vote of censure on Athenian poliey and charaeter. As for the construetion τὰ ἡμῖν ποιούμενα, Thuc. by no means confines the dat. of the agent to perf. pass.: he is as free as the poets in the matter. In the orators any other tenses than perf. very rarely has the dat. See on c. 1, 2.

τῆς ἡ. πολυπραγμοσύνης καὶ τρόπου —depending on τι. ‘as far as any phase of our intermeddling, or rather our character, is of service to you as to us ( ὑμῖν . . τὸ αὐτό, lit. ‘to you in the same way’), avail yourselves of that phase, to the exclusion of the rest.’ The τι refers to the intervention in Sieily, which Camarina may turn to aceount. πολυπραγμοσύνης refers to πολλὰ πράσσειν above.

καὶ τρόπου —sc. τοῦ ἡμετέρου. It refers to the personal characteristics of a people, and the mention of it here is to show that it may be substituted for πολυπραγμοσύνη, so that καί = immo. There is also a reference baek to ἀποτρέπειν ( τῶν ποιουμένων) above, which is thus ἀποτρέπειν τοῦ τρόπου. The τρόποι of the Athenians are fully dealt with by Pericles in the Funeral Oration. τούτῳ ἀπολαβόντες χρήσασθε—τοῦτο would be the more ordinary construction; see c 46, 3, but cf. VIII. 87 ὄπως μηδετέρους προσθέμενος ἰσχυροτάτους ποιήσῃ. The partic. in such cases may be regarded as absolute.

αὐτά —se. τὴν πολυπραγμοσύνην καὶ τρόπον, subject of βλάπτειν.

ἐν παντὶ γὰρ κτλ —‘in every place, even where we are not at hand, the man who thinks that he will suffer wrong and he who plots mischief—because they have a lively expecta tion, the one of obtaining from us a return in the form of help, the other that if we come he will be in danger of suffering for his wrong—are both alike compelled, the one to restram himself against his will, the other to accept safety without taking action.’ In this extremely difficult passage the speaker explains the effect of Athenian prestige —that prestige which arises from her πολυπραγμοσύνη. It is a guarantee of tranquillity in states in which Athens has no footing. And how? Because the certainty of her intervention on behalf of the oppressed prevents attempts at oppression. This theory is similar to the modern theory that great armaments are a guarantee of peace.

ἐν παντὶ γὰρ πᾶς — traductio; see c. 11, 2 n.

ὑπεῖναι — i.e. present in his mind.

ἐλπίδα — hope as applied to the one, fear as applied to the other. ἀντιτυχεῖν—ἀντι‐, as a return for joining our alliance, for frankly accepting our interference. (This is better than Haack's explanation, adopted by Stahl, that ἀντι‐ =‘in redress of the wrong,’ because it is more in accordance with the advice that is being given to Camarina χρήσασθαι τῇ πολυπραγμοσύνῃ .)

μὴ ἀδεεῖ εἶναι κινδυνεύειν —on the reading see crit. note. ( a) κινδυνεύειν depending on μὴ ἀδεεῖ. Stahl rightly objects to Classen's rendering ‘that he will have to fear a conflict with us,’ on the ground that the inf. κινδυνεύειν is most unusual in the sense μὴ κινδυνεύῃ, and that ἀδεής does not mean ‘liable to fear’ but actually ‘afraid.’ Others render ‘that they will not be without fear of danger’; but Stahl says this puts the point very feebly: not the chance that they may be in danger, but only the certainty of danger if the Athenians intervene, would deter men from plotting; κινδυνεύειν greatly weakens the passage. ( b) μὴ ἀδεεῖ εἶναι depending on κινδυν εύειν. Then the rendering given by edd. is ‘will be likely to have reason for fear.’ But (1) nowhere else in Thuc. does κινδυνεύειν=‘to be likely’; (2) the sense given to ἀδεής is weak. It remains to give to ἀδεής its legal meaning, ‘exempt from punishment,’ ‘privileged, though guilty,’ for which see c. 27, 2. This suits ἀδικήσεσθαι and ἐπιβουλεύειν, and gives a forcible meaning to the passage. See Intr. § 23.

ἀναγκάζονται —both parties are compelled to abstain from action; and thus to the stronger comes σωφροσύνη, and to the weaker σωτηρία. There is a certain humour in applying ἀναγκἀζονται to the side that obtains σωτηρία. The force in both cases is moral.

ὁ μέν —corresponding to ὁ ἐπιβουλεύων, ὁ δέ to ὁ οἰόμενος ἀδικής εσθαι, by chiasmus.

ἀπραγμόνως —a verbal reference back to Athenian πολυπραγμοσύνη, which means ἀπραγμοσύνη for others.

ταύτην οὖν κτλ —‘do not reject the gift of safety open without exception to any who ask it and to yourselves.’

ἐξισώσαντες —sc. ταύτην τὴν ἀσφἀλειαν τὴν ὑμῖν παροῦσαν: while τοῖς ἄλλοις is a brachylogy for τῇ τῶν ἄλλων. Hence lit. ‘making this safety that is open to you equal to that of the rest,’ i.e. ‘availing yourselves of this gift as others do.’ In τοῖς ἄλλοις he alludes especially to Segesta and Leontini. (All edd. previous to Stahl explain ἐξισώσαντες as intrans.; but there is no need for this, and the passages cited in its support are very doubtful parallels. Stahl, however, takes τοῖς ἄλλοις with ἀντεπιβουλεῦσαι, and brackets τοῖς Συρακοσίοις as a gloss upon τοῖς ἄλλοις.) Stein reads δεομένῳ < ἀεὶ> above.

καὶ ἀντεπιβουλεῦσαί ποτε —‘at length change your plan and resolve to plot against the S. likewise in return.’ ἐκ τοῦ ὁμοίου, ‘as they plot against you.’ ἀντεπιβουλεῦσαι is object of ( μετα) λἀβετε, and τοῖς Σ. of ἀντεπιβουλεῦσαι .