Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War 6.33

ὅσοι —the edd. all say that Nicias and Lamachus are meant, and Reiske even proposed ὼς οἱ as a correction; but ὅσοι ὑπόλοιποι means ‘all those who remain now I am withdrawn,’ ‘all the generals left behind, including those who have not gone to Sicily,’ and not ‘those whom I have left in Sicily.’ That this is so is shown by the following facts: (1) the use of ὑπόλοιπος in Thuc.: I. 105 τὸ πρὸς Αἰγίνῃ στρἀτευμα is contrasted with οἱ ἐκ τῆς πόλεως ὑπόλοιποι: IV. 2 στρατηγοὶ οἱ ὑπόλοιποι are contrasted with ὁ ἤδη προαφιγμένος ἐς Σικελίαν: VII. 64 τοὺς ἐκεῖ ( i.e. at home) ἡμῶν ὑπολοίπους: cf. also ib. ἡ ὑπόλοιπος πόλις and c. 17 ὑπόλοιπον ἡμῖν ἐστὶν ἀντίπαλον ναυτικόν: (2) in c. 62, 1 the generals left in Sicily are called οἱ λοιποὶ τῶν Ἀθηναίων στρατηγοὶ ἐν τῇ Σικελίᾳ: (3) in II. 65 Thuc. speaks of the support given to the expedition at home after it sailed out; and of course the στρατηγοί in Athens would have to advise about this, and some of them might be sent out to replace Alcibiades: (4) αὐτἀ = all the schemes including the καταπολέμησις of Peloponnese. It would be absurd to attribute the whole of this work to Nicias and Lamachus alone.

ὁμοίως — i.e. ‘though I have withdrawn.’ οὐ περιέσται τἀκεῖ—οὐ σωθήσεται τὰ ἐν τῇ Σικελίᾳ.

ἀπειρότεροι —sc. τῶν Ἀθηναιῶν. ξυστραφέντες—c. 77, 1.

πανδημεί —c. 68, 2.

ἔχεται —‘is in their power.’ The pres. denotes the certainty of the event. Stahl, Q.G.2 p. 12

κίνδυνον ἐκεῖθεν —‘danger from that quarter.’

οὐκ belongs to μακροῦ: cf. c. 15, 4.

ὥστε —‘and thus’; M.T. § 602.

εἰ μὴ ποιήσετε —‘unless you mean to do this.’ With the construction οἰέσθω βουλεύειν, εἰ μὴ ποιήσετε cf. Lys. 13, 93 εἰ γὰρ ἀποψηφιεῖσθε . . τῇ αὐτῇ ψήφῳ καταψηφίζεσθε, and § 3 above.

στρατίαν τε πέμψετε —epexegesis of τἀδε ποιήσετε. For

οἵτινες cf. ἀπὸ Πελοποννήσου . . οἵ c. 80, 1. ὡς ἂν . . ξυντάξῃ—ὡς ἄν only here in Thuc.; M.T. § 326. The construction is poetical, ὄς with fut. indic. being the ordinary prose form of expression. Several constructions that are familiar in Thuc. are found on examination to be poetical: e.g. the dat. with verbs of motion, expressing interest or the goal, as ἦλθον αὐτοῖς c. 46, 3; ἐπί with dat.= against c. 61, 1; and others already noticed. (See C. F. Smith, Trans. of Am. Phil. Association 1894 p. 61 ff.)

ξυντάξη —‘organise.’

τοὺς μὴ θέλοντας , sc. παρεῖναι. The form θέλειν for ἐθέλειν is regular after μή .

οἱ ἐνδοιάζοντες —such as Camarina. An Ionic word.

τὰ ἐνθάδε —this may be either adverbial, ‘in Greece,’ or direct object of ἐκπολεμοῦν, ‘the Greek states.’

ἧσσον . . πέμπωσι —‘may be prevented from sending.’

τειχίζειν δὲ χρή —the passage that follows is written with a knowledge of later events. The chief results of the occupation are to be: (1) the capture or surrender of most of the property, (2) the loss to Athens of the revenue from the mines, (3) the tribute from the allies will not be paid. These are the results that in VII. 27 are actually stated to have followed (Jebb, Hellenica p. 290).

Δεκέλειαν —it commands the road from Athens to Oropus, and thus the route to Euboea, whence came a great part of the corn supplies of Athens. The fort built there overlooked the richest parts of Attica.

ὅπερ — i.e. τὸ τειχίζειν. For

αὐτοῦ in place of οὗ see c. 4, 3 n.

τῶν ἐν τῷ πολέμῳ —the A. had adopted this plan against Sparta at Pylus. ‘The only suffering incidental to the war of which they have not had a thorough experience.’

βεβαιότατα δ’ ἂν κτλ —‘the surest way of injuring an enemy is to bring on him that which one ascertains from clear in formation that he fears most.’

εἰκὸς γάρ —‘it is natural that every one should have the most accurate knowledge of the particular dangers that he fears,’ i.e. he realises best the nature and extent of the danger he is in.

κωλύσετε —sc. ὠφελεῖσθαι.

αὐτόματα —this refers to ‘the desertion of slaves, included in the κατασκευαί as household chattels or “live stock”’ (Jebb).

ἥξει πρὸς ὑμᾶς —‘will come into your hands.’

τῶν ἀγυρείων μ. —Aesch. Persae 237 ἀργύρου πηγήτις αὐτοῖς ἐστὶ θησαυρὸς χθονός. They were farmed out on hereditary leases. τὰς < ἀπὸ> τοῦ Λ. Stein.

ἀπὸ γῆς —produce to the tenant and the rent paid to the state.

δικαστηρίων —fees and fines to the state and pay to the dicasts. The business of the courts would be at an end. This may be somewhat exaggerated. In VII. 28 it is explained that all citizens were required for military duty. (The conjecture δεκατευτηρίων—see crit. note—is too technical to be satisfactory; and the tithes and taxes on land are included in ἀπὸ γῆς.) For the omission of the prep. with δικαστηρίων cf. ce. 6, 2; 26, 2.

τῆς . . προσόδου —the most important source of revenue. For the change from accus. to gen. with ἀποστερήσονται ef. c. 85, 2 n.

ἧσσον διαφορουμένης =‘less regularly transmitted.’ There is no other instance of this sense of διαφορεῖν, the nearest being in c. 100, 3, where it=‘to transfer.’

τὰ παρ’ ὑμῶν . . πολεμεῖσθαι —‘that the war is being condueted on your part.’ τὰ πὰρ’ ὐμῶν is prob. subject, not adverbial.

ὀλιγωρήσουσι sc. τοῦ διαφορεῖν τὴν π.