Edgar Carew Marchant, Commentary on Thucydides: Book 7, 7.63

[1] ὧν χρὴ κ.τ.λ. — Bear this in mind, and fight to the end with all your strength; and do not be driven ashore. but when two ships strike, do not let them drive you off until you have cleared the heavy troops from the enemy's deck.

πρότερον . . . ἢ . . . ἀπαράξητε — πρότερον . . . ἢ occasionally stands for πρότερον . . . πρὶν with subj., indic. or infin. in Herod. and Thuc., but very rarely in other authors, as Dem. 31.12 (early speech) πρότερον τοὺς ὅρους ἔστησεν ἢ ἐκεῖνον τὴν δίκην ὀφλεῖν. The subj. without ἂν in temporal sentences—after πρὶν, πρὶν ἢ, μέχρι—is also a mark of early prose.

ἀπαράξητε —cf. c. 6.3

[2] καὶ ταῦτα κ τ.λ. — I am now addressing not so much the sailors as the soldiers, as it is on the men on deck that this duty mainly falls: and at present we have still the advantage of them in most points with our infantry. The last clause betrays the speaker's want of confidence.

[3] τοῖς δὲ ναύταις — Sailors, I urge, nay more, I entreat you, not to be in any way too overcome by your misfortunes; you have now better arrangements above, and a greater number of ships. Think, I beg you, how well worth preserving is the pleasant feeling that, being thought Athenians so long even if you are not so, by your knowledge of our language and your imitation of our institutions you were admired in Greece, and—as far as advantages go—had as great a share as we in our empire, while, in the matter of respect from onr subjects and immunity from wrong, you had much more than we. This § appears to start with the 3rd pers., which is changed for the 2nd in ἐθαυμάζεσθε (l. 18); but the Gk. orators habitually mingle statements about people with direct address to them in this way.

τῷδε —i.e. ἐν τῷ περαινεῖν.

τὴν ἡδονὴν —the pleasure which he describes in the rel. clause following.

οἳ —the antecedent, ὑμῖν, is omitted. The sentence ἀξία ἐστὶν ἡ ἡδονὴ διασώσασθαι οἳ . . . ἐθαυμάζεσθε is constructed like τὸ δ’ εὐτυχές, οἳ ἂν . . . λάχωσιν in II. 44.1 .

Ἀθηναῖοι νομιζόμενοι — he means the ξένοι and μέτοικοι serving as ναῦται; at the same time he lays stress on the influence of the Athenian ὄχλος ναυτικός. So in [Xen.] Ath. Pol. 2 οἱ κυβερνῆται καὶ οἱ κελευσταὶ καὶ . . . οἱ πρῳρᾶται καὶ οἱ ναυπηγοί, οὗτοί εἰσιν οἱ τὴν δύναμιν περιτιθέντες τῇ πόλει πολὺ μᾶλλον ἢ οἱ ὁπλῖται καὶ οἱ γενναῖοι καὶ οἱ χρηστοί. There was promotion from the lowest position as a rower to the highest as κυβερνήτης. There would be few true-born Athenians amongst the ναῦται now owing to the disasters in Sicily. Prob. many θῆτες, who ordinarily served as sailois, were employed as hoplites. 18,

τῇ ἐπιστήμῃ —causal with θαυμάζω, as IV. 85.3 , with φοβοῦμαι II. 89.6 .

τῶν τρόπων —the private habits as contrasted with the πολιτεία, the public institutions, of Athens. The A. prided themselves both on their πολιτεία and on their τρόποι .

ἐθαυμάζεσθε κατὰ τὴν Ἑλλάδα —Thuc., owing to his own exile and his travels, would have good reason to know the fact and to appreciate the value of the ἡδονή.

ἔς τε τὸ φοβερὸν τοι—ς ὑπηκόοις —some of the μετοικοι whom N. is supposed to be addressing must have been by origin υπήκοοι, so that Thuc. prob. means that those of them who had served in the A. fleet were regarded with awe in their own cities. φοβερὸν=‘causing fear’; cf. on c. 42.3 .

πολὺ πλεῖον —chiasmns with οὐκ ἔλασσον. This passage, besides containing an exaggeration (see crit. note), seems rather lacking both in taste and in tact, even when we remember that most of the doubtful supporters of A. had deserted. But it must be remembered that none of the speeches in Thuc., and least of all the military harangues, could possibly have been delivered. Sce Appendix I.

[4] ὥστε κοινωνοὶ κ.τ.λ. — with you alone we freely share our empire; it is but just that you should not betray it now; rather, filled with scorn of the Corinthians whom you have often defeated and of the Sicilian Greeks, not one of whom even dared to face us so long as our fleet was at its best, repel them, and show that in spite of sickness and disaster your science is superior to another's confidence while succeeding.

ἐλευθέρως —always understood to mean while retaining your freedom and compared with VI. 85.2 ἐλευθέρως ξυμμαχοῦντες. It implies this too; but it is meant as an allusion to the generous spirit in which A had treated them. Cf. II. 37.2 ἐλευθέρως τὰ πρὸς τὸ κοινὸν πολιτεύομεν.

καταφρονήσαντες —paronomasia with preceding word. The aor. is ingressive.

ἤκμαζε τὸ ναυτικὸν —the decline of the naval power of Athens meant the decline of her empire over the imagination of Greece. 30

ἑτέρας —for ἑτέρων, but preferred so as to correspond with ὑμετέρα.

εὐτυχούσης — contrasted with καὶ μετ’ ἀσθενείας καὶ ξ. Observe this very common use of μετὰ with abstract nouns.

Edgar Carew Marchant Commentary on Thucydides: Book 7 7.63

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