E.C. Marchant, Commentary on Thucydides: Book 2

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Commentary on Thucydides, Histories. book 2, chapter 2:section 1.

Commentary on Book 2

I. Archetai--not historic, but primary and connected with gegraptai below. Thuc. means to say ‘what preceded (i.e. book I.) was an introduction: now begins (my account of) the war itself.’ Cf. arxamenos, I. 1, 1: Diod. XII. 37 tên historian enteuthen arxamenos. Ullrich first rightly explained this passage.

ho polemos--i.e. the Archidamian War, 431-421; not the whole war to 404.

enthende êdê--cf. Aristoph. Ach. 539 kanteuthen êdê patagos ên tôn aspidôn, referring to the outbreak of the war. enthende refers back to I. 146, i.e. the account of the aitiai kai diaphorai is now concluded. (The other explanation, referring enthende to the attack on Plataea, is less satisfactory, as enthende is so far from the account of the attempt.)

tôn hekaterois x.--when xummachos is in the gen. plu., it is generally constructed as an adj., following that of xummachein. Thus cacophony is avoided. Contrast I. 18 tois heautôn xummachois, IV. 81 tois Athênaiôn x. en hôi--neut. Cf. c. 11, 6, 35, 2, = quo tempore. It expresses not merely time, but includes circumstances. en hôi=‘during which period.’

oute...te --cf. c. 5, 5.

epemeignunto par' allêlous--the epi-expresses reciprocity, as in epichrêsthai. During the period of suspicion which preceded war, epemeignunto kai par' allêlous ephoitôn akêruktôs men, anupoptôs d' ou, I. 146. katastantes--sc. es polemon, when once they had definitely startcd. Cf. c. 9, 1 and I. 49, 3. This refers to the interval between the attempt at Plataea and the invasion of Attica.

xunechôs--down to the truce that preceded the Peace of Nicias. Cf. v. 24 tauta ta deka etê ho prôtos polemos xunechôs genomenos, VI. 26 arti d' aneilêphei hê polis heautên apo tou xunechous polemou. gegraptai --sc. moi.--This resumes archetai, but gegraptai is probably impersonal, Thuc. meaning gegrapha. Attic prose shows a marked preference for perf. pass. over perf. act. forms in 3rd sing. Thus ha pepraktai moi is far commoner than ha pepracha, which is quite rare. gegrapha occurs once in Thuc., gegraptai egegrapto or partic. nine times.

hexês--explained by kata th. kai cheimôna. Distinguish between taxis, the arrangement of the subject matter as a whole, diairesis, the divisions in which the separate events are grouped, exergasia, the treatment of [p. 128] the separate events. It is to the diairesis that Thuc. refers.

hôs hekasta egigneto--neut. plu. is used of the several events, just as Thuc. uses auta constantly of the details of the subject he is dealing with.

kata th. kai cheimôna--as Thuc. begins his account of each summer with the first event of the new campaign, the summer in his history does not always begin exactly at the same time. Thus in 429, the account of summer begins with the Peloponnesian expedition against Plataea, which took place akmazontos tou sitou, i.e. 80 days after the opening of spring (II. 71, 1; 79, 1; cf. c. 19, 1 and 2, 1). In 428 the account of the summer only begins hama tôi êri akmazonti (III. 1, 1). Phormio's arrival at Piraeus did not occur till spring had opened; but, for the sake of convenience, that event is tacked on to the preceding winter (II. 103). But usually the opening of spring is reckoned with summer. Autumn also is counted with summer. Though Steup maintains that summer and winter are of equal length in Thuc., Poppo's view, that the summer consists of eight months (Elaphebolion to Pyanepsion) is probably correct. Thus the winter is from Maemacterion to Anthesterion.

II. Gar--takes up archetai and introduces the narrative. So c. 49, to men gar etos takes up dêlôsô. enemeinan--the aor. of a single historical fact. M. T. 56, 57 (sometimes called ‘complexive).’

Euboias halôsin--Euboea revolted at the same time as Megara, 445 B.C. See I. 114, 115. The place of the article is taken by the gen., as often. Cf. I. 1 dia chronou plêthos. Comparing this phrase with c. 49, 4 meta tauta lôphêsanta, VI. 3, 3 meta Surakousas oikistheisas, II 68 apo tôn Amprakiôtôn xunoikêsantôn, VI. 80, 2, and similar predicative uses of the partic. collected by Stahl, Quaest. Gram. p. 28, we might suppose that Thuc. could have written meta Euboian halousan, just as below we have epi Chrusidos hierômenês, but, with the solitary exception of hama with expressions of time, as ama tôi sitôi akmazonti, it is improbable that this convenient use of the partic. was ever employed unless the expression made sense without the partic., which would not be the case here. This convenient use is of course much commoner in Latin than in Greek.

epi Chrusidos --Argos, though humbled by Sparta, 495 B.C., was still the third state in Greece. The Argives reckoned by the number of years during which the priestess of Hera had held office. Hellanicus had written a work on the Priestesses of Argos, using them as marks for the dates.

Ainêsiou--sc. epi: so with Puthodôrou. ephorou--i.e. the Ephor epônumos. The omission of ontos, for which cf. v. 25, 1, is rare except in dates. ephorou ontos = ephoreuontos. tessaras mênas--the archons entered on office on the 1st of Hecatombaeon, which in 431 B.C. fell on August 1st. To [p. 129] express a period of time, the pres. (or imperf.) or perf. (or pluperf.) participle is used: to supply the reference to the completion of the period, (a) êdê is added, in primary sequence, which becomes tote in secondary sequence: both refer to a period past at the time of speaking: (b) eti referring to the completion of a period in the future. Thus v. 112, 2 out' en oligôi chronôi poleôs heptakosia etê êdê oikoumenês tên eleutherian aphairêsometha, and observe tote hierômenês and eti archontos here. The four months are Elaphebolion, Munychion, Thargelion, Scirophorion.

Athênaiois--cf. 1. 93 archên archein Athênaiois, but in v. 25 archontos Athênêsi. The dative is probably local. Cf. c. 86 and 92 apo tôn Athênaiôn for apo tôn Athênôn. [

meta tên mêni hektôi]. Reasons for regarding these words as a later addition to the text are 1. Nearly a year (I. 125) intervened between the day on which the allies of Sparta decided to go to war and the first invasion of Attica (c. 19). Between the battle of Potidaea and the decision came the events recorded in I. 63-88, 118-125. The invasion was 80 days after the attempt on Plataea (c. 19). So for the period between the battleat Potidaea and the attempt on Plataea we get nearly a year minus 80 days and the time occupied by the events of I. 63-88, 118-125. The result must clearly be more than six months But Lipsius' hektôi kai dekatôi probably gives too much time: thus, from battle at Potidaea to attempt on Plataea = 15 months; from attempt on Plataea to invasion of Attica = 80 days. Total about 171/2 months. Deducting nearly a year for the time between the decision of the allies and the invasion, we get about 61/2 months, at least, for the events of I. 63-88, 118-125. These events were as follows: the Athenians built a wall on the north side of Potidaea and garrisoned it. After a considerable interval (chronôi husteron) Phormio was sent from Athens with 1600 hoplites. He spent some time on the road (kata brachu proiôn). On arriving, he built a wall south of Potidaea. The Corinthians called a meeting of allies at Sparta. The Spartans sent to Delphi. Then a general meeting of allies was held at Sparta. at which the decision was come to. It is not clear whether the Corinthians proposed the first meeting after the north wall was built, or only after the south wall was finished. It is however highly improbable that they waited to take action till Potidaea was completely shut in; for they were most anxious about Potidaea, and were anxious to force on war. The Athenians would occupy about a month in building the north wall. Thus the Corinthians probably suggested the meeting about 40 days after the battle. Thus, the whole time would only be about 40 days + the time taken in the mission to Delphi and the calling of the second meeting. 2. The [p. 130] bracketed words give no additional indication of the date of the attempt on Plataea. Thuc. wishes to be precise here, but he has given no definite indication of the date of the battle at Potidaea, nor was it necessary to do so. He says (1) the decision of the allies was some 11 months before the invasion, (2) the invasion was 80 days after the attempt. All that could be found from mêni hektôi would be the date of the battle of Potidaea. If any event were here referred to it would rather be the decision of the allies.

ama êri archomenôi--the last day of Anthesterion, in 431 April 4th. See c. 4, 2

boiôtarchountes--the 11 chiefs of the Boeotian confederacy, of whom Thebes elected two, the other cities one each.

peri prôton hupnon--cf. VII. 43 apo prôtou hupnou. When the article is omitted with expressions of time, a preposition is usually present, except with hêmeras and nuktos. See Rutherford, Syntax, p. 4. There were three watches, the first beginning about 10 o'clock.

xun hoplois--in later Attic, except Xenophon, sun has only two uses; (1) the old phrase sun (tois) theois, (2) in enumerating things which are thrown together in a sum total; so that sun is very rare with persons, and it never implies a willing connection. Andoc. II. 7 ton patera sun emautôi apokteinai. Of (1) Thuc. has 1 example, II. 86; of (2) 11 examples, e.g. (a) with things--c. 13, 77,; v. 26 xun tôi prôtôi polemôi tosauta etê. Cf. VII. 42; VIII. 90, 95: (b) with persons, comparatively common in Thuc., I. 12; II. 6, 13; IV. 124; v. 74. Besides these, Thuc. has the old military phrase, xun (tois) hoplois, 8 times. Cf. Eur. Hec. 112. Aristoph. Nub, 560. In the same class fall xun heni himatiôi, II. 70, psiloi xun xiphidiôi and xun doratiois III. 22. Cf. the Homeric sun teuchesi. Further, 6 cases of verbal nouns which modify the meaning of a verb, viz.: xun epainôi exotrunein I. 84, xun katêgoriai paroxunein ib., xun chalepotêti paideuesthai ib., xun phobôi echein ti I. 141, xun anankêi ti pathein III. 40, xun prophasei kakôs poiein ib. The absence of this archaic idiom from the later books is remarkable. Lastly, 3 cases of a connection willingly formed, viz.: II. 58; III. 90; VII. 57. This is common in Tragedy and Xenophon. In inscriptions of the classical period only the Attic use marked (2) above is found, and that never with persons.

This text is based on the following book(s):
Commentary on Thucydides Book 2 . E.C. Marchant. London. MacMillan & Company. 1891.