C.E. Graves, Commentary on Thucydides: Book 4

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Commentary on Thucydides, Histories. book 4, chapter 1.

I.

tou d' epigignomenou therous--the opening words introduced by de complete the sentence which ends the preceding book, tauta men kata ton cheimôna touton egeneto k.t.l. The third and fifth books begin in the same way. therous--‘in the summer’; the genitive denotes the time within the limits of which a thing occurs, and is partitive in character (Madvig, § 66). Thucydides divides his history into summers and winters, thus reckoning more accurately, as he points out (v. 20), than by the names of the archons or other officials of the year in different states.

peri sitou ekbolên--lit. ‘putting forth (ears)’. Some time in April is probably denoted: see Arnold's note on tou sitou akmazontos, ii. 19; and Jowett on ii. 1. The latter holds that the terms akmazein and en akmêi einai refer to the time when the corn was in full ear, though not ready for harvest. In Attica this would be about May 10--June 10, harvest beginning about June 15.

pleusasai--the order of the sentence shews that this word belongs to Surakosiôn deka nêes: the Syracusans put to sea, and after being joined by the Locrians went to Messene.

Lokrides--Locri Epizephyrii, a colony founded by the Locrians of Greece, was in the S.E. of what is now Calabria. It was in alliance with Syracuse (iii. 86). Messene (now Messina) had been forced to join the Athenian confederacy the year before (iii. 90). A summary of its history is given vi. 4. isai--‘an equal number’: iii. 75, isas plêrôsantes. [p. 110]

katelabon--‘occupied’, especially used of taking up a military position: cf. katalambanôn, ch. 3, 18: iii. 31, tôn poleôn katalabein tina: so Plato, Gorg. 455 B, speaks of chôriôn kata. lêpsis as a subject for military debate.

autôn epagagomenôn--‘the people themselves having invited them’; the preceding Messênên shews to what autôn refers: cf. i. 136, pheugei es Kerkuran, ôn autôn euergetês.

epraxan de--the verb being placed first, the subject is divided into two parts, oi men Surakosioi . . . hoi de Lokroi, the respective motives of the allies being thus distinguished: cf. line 17.

horôntes prosbolên echon--‘seeing that the place commanded, or afforded (lit. contained), an approach, or point of landing and attack’, i.e. it was the key of Sicily. So the Messenians are said en prosbolêi einai tês Sikelias, vi. 48; and an Athenian squadron despatched to the straits of Messene is said peri tên prosbolên tês Sikelias naulochein, vii. 4. echô is used in the same way in ch. 8, 40, apobasin ouk echousan, ‘not admitting of a landing’. From the idea of ‘containing in itself’ it is often used in the sense of ‘bringing with itself’, and therefore of involving or implying, the equivalent English depending on the context; e.g. i. 97, apodeixin echei, ‘affords a proof’: ii. 41, aganaktêsin echei, ‘gives ground of complaint’: ii. 61, aisthêsin echei, ‘causes perception’.

tês Sikelias--objective gen. after prosbolên: so ch. 83, 6, epi têi esbolêi tês Lunkou, ‘at the pass into Lyncus’.

ex autou hormômenoi--‘making it a base of operations’ against Syracuse, lit. ‘starting from it’: so ch. 3, 22. pote<*> --‘sooner or later, some day’: so ch. 60, 16. If the Athenians had possession of Messene, their command of the sea would enable them to collect forces and supplies there, so as to attack Syracuse at their own time. Rhegium was on the Italian side of the straits of Messene. It was in alliance with the Athenians and Leontines (iii. 86). The Athenian ships under Pythodorus were apparently stationed there at the present time, but made no effort to save Messene. Pythodorus may have been crippled by a defeat he had lately sustained in an attack on a Locrian fortress (iii. 115).

amphoterôthen--by land and sea: so ch. 11, 9: iii. 18.

es tên Rhêginôn--sc. gên: i. 44, têi a:llêlôn boêthein.

epiboêthôsi--the subjunctive is more graphic than the optative, which according to rule should follow the pluperfect. ‘The historians, especially Thucydides, seem often to have [p. 111] thrown themselves so completely into the past events which they recorded that those events became as present to them, and hence a form of the subjunctive group follows a historic tense. Sometimes indeed forms from both groups occur in a clause dependent on the same historical tense, as iii. 22, hopôs asaphê<*> ta sêmeia tois polemiois êi, kai mê boêthoien. In such examples the subjunctive form often expresses the more immediate or more certain contingency, and the optative form the more remote or more uncertain contingency’ (Clyde's Greek Syntax, § 40, obs. 2). Apart from cases which can be thus explained, the subjunctive is constantly used after a historic tense by the best Attic writeis, and in later Greek tends to supplant the optative altogether (Clyde, loc. cit.: Madvig, § 131 b).

xunepagontôn--‘joining in promoting the invasion’. ch. 84, 6. xunepagontes: ch. 79, 11, ai plêsiochôroi poleis xunepêgon: so ib. line 7, exêgagon ton straton: i. 107, epêgon. In such instances the active differs from the middle, the latter meaning ‘to invite’, i.e. bring in to one's self. The reasons of the Locrian invasion are given in two clauses of different construction, a final clause, hina mê..., and a genitive absolute introduced by hama de.

estasiaze--‘had been for a long while in a state of faction’. The imperfect shews that the state of faction still continued: this corresponds to the well-known use of the present to denote what is still going on, as nosei palai, ‘he has been long sick’.

adunata ên--‘it was impossible’: so i. 59: ii. 72: iii. 86, ei dunata eiê. Such neuter plurals are very common; see Shilleto on i. 7.

hêi kai mallon epetithento--‘wherefore they attacked them the more’, this was a further reason for choosing this time for their attack: cf. i. 11, hêi kai mallon hoi Trôes anteichon: iii. 13, hêi kai mallon chrê. With this may be compared the Homeric tôi, e.g. Il. i. 418, tôi se kakêi aisêi tekon. epetithento--lit. ‘set on them’: cf. iii. 72, epitithentai tôi dêmôi, ‘they attack the democracy’.

allai hai plêroumenai--lit. ‘others. viz. those which were being manned’, the definite article implying that such ships were in preparation, and contrasting them with those already afloat. Possibly hai has got into the text from the end of allai.

This text is based on the following book(s):
Commentary on Thucydides Book 4 . C.E. Graves. London. MacMillan & Company. 1884.