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COMMENTARY 1.1. Ως Ε Πολ Εµησαν. Instead of Using the Accusative

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COMMENTARY 1.1. Ως Ε Πολ Εµησαν. Instead of Using the Accusative COMMENTARY 1.1. ως επλεµησαν . Instead of using the accusative relative pronoun ν& referring to τν πλεµν , Thucydides uses an indirect question with a displaced object, literally, “He wrote the war, how they fought.” This figure is called prolepsis (literally, “anticipation”) or the “lilies-of-the-field construction” (from the biblical verse Matt. 6:28, “Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow” [καταµα θετε τακρ ινα τυ αγρυ πωςαυα ν- υσιν]). “The subject of the dependent clause is often anticipated and made the object of the verb of the principal clause” (Sm. §2182). ευθ υς καθισταµενυ . Genitive absolute expressing time. Notice that in Greek, unlike the Latin ablative absolute, a participle may stand alone without a noun in the genitive when it is obvious what such a noun would be. Sm. §2072. The full expression would be ευθ υς καθισταµενυ τυ πλεµυ , “the moment the war broke out.” ελπισας . “expecting.” Verbs meaning hope, expect, promise, threaten, swear, etc. take the future infinitive in indirect discourse. Sm. §1868. τεκµαιρµαι . After Homer—i.e., in classical Greek—this verb means “judge from signs or tokens.” But here, Thucydides has used it in a special sense, “taking as evidence for this judgment [that it was going to be the greatest war ever] the fact that . .” 18 Commentary 19 υνιστα µενν . Indirect discourse with accusative plus participle after a verb of perception (ρων). Sm. §2110–12. τµ εν ...τδ ε . When used with µεν and δε without a following noun, the article behaves like a demonstrative. Sm. §1106–7. The combination µεν ... δε means “the one . the other,” and ιµ εν ...ιδ ε means “some . and some . .” Here, it takes up from τ αλλ Ελληνικν [the rest of Greece], to mean “part of the rest of Greece doing so straightaway, and part thinking about it.” We probably should imagine that after διανυµενν could be supplied υνιστασθαι , “considering to join the league.” 1.2. ως δεε ιπει ν. “so to speak.” “Certain idiomatic infinitives are used absolutely in parenthetical phrases to limit the application of a single expression or of the entire sentence” (Sm. §2012, the absolute infinitive). E.g., ως επς ειπει ν, “so to say”; εκων ειναι, “willingly”; ως εµιδκει ν, “as it seems to me.” επι πλειστν. Here, επι with the accusative expresses quantity or mea- sure (Sm. §1689.3c)—as in επι µικρν , “a little,” and επιπλ εν , “still more”—hence, “the most.” Here, “of the majority of mankind.” 1.3. ευρει ν. Epexegetical (explanatory) infinitive—i.e., an accusative of respect that happens to be an infinitive. An accusative of respect (Sm. §1600—1601) is an accusative in the vicinity of an adjective expressing in what respect that adjective is true, as in δεινιµα ην, “terrible with respect to battle.” Hence, here, “things impossible with respect to discov- ery.” Note that the infinitive limiting the meaning of an adjective—i.e., an epexegetical infinitive—is commonly active (or middle) where En- glish often expects a passive (Sm. §2006). So one can here translate “impossible to discover” or “impossible to be discovered.” εκδε τεκµηριων ω ν. In Greek, a relative pronoun whose antecedent is either genitive or dative can take its case from its antecedent rather than from its use in its own clause. Logically, one would expect this relative to α& σκπυντι be accusative plural , since it is the object of the participle and, at the same time, the object of πιστευσαι, but it is attracted to the case of its antecedent, τεκµηριων . Sm. §2522. µι πιστευσαι υµ αινει . Literally, “to believe happens to me”—i.e., to retranslate, “I happen to believe.” 20 THUCYDIDES BOOK I κατα ... ες. Both mean “concerning.” LSJ s.v. κατα B.IV.2, s.v. ες A.IV.1. Thucydides avoids repeating the preposition κατα and characteris- tically avoids strict parallelism. 2.2. φαινεται takes the participles καλυµενη , ικυµ ενη , υ σαι, απ- λειπντες , and ια"µενι . Sm. §§2106, 2143. νεµµενι . In the middle, νεµω means “possess, enjoy, or inhabit.” LSJ s.v. A.II. Crawley translates, “cultivate.” σν απ"η ν. “as much as [necessary] to live off.” αδηλν ν . Accusative absolute. “A participle stands in the accusative absolute, instead of the genitive, when it is impersonal, or has an infini- tive as its subject. When impersonal, such participles have no apparent grammatical connection with the rest of the sentence” (Sm. §2076–78). Hence, “it being unclear when . .” πτε . Indirect form of the interrogative adverb, used for indirect ques- tions. The direct form would be πτε . See the chart in Sm. §346; cf. §2664. τις ... αλλς . “somebody else.” Thucydides often separates words that ordinarily go together. αφαιρ ησεται . This is the verb of the indirect question introduced by πτε . In the middle, it means “take for oneself/themselves” and would ordinarily have an accusative of the thing and a genitive of the person, as in Thuc. III.58.5: τας πατριυς τωνεσσαµενων και κτισα ντων αφαιρ η- σεσθε [you will take the ancestral practices away from those who estab- αφαιρ ησεται lished and founded them]. There is no accusative object of because it can be inferred from what precedes—sc., γην (brachylogy, Sm. §3018k). After primary tenses, the mood of the original direct question is retained, but after secondary tenses, the mood may change to optative. Sm. §2677. Here, after the secondary leading verb απαν ισταντ , Thucydides chooses to retain the indicative. ατει ιστων αµα ντων can be taken either as a genitive absolute or as the genitive after αφαιρ ησεται . Classen and Steup (ad loc.) prefer the latter. Notice the connectives in the first independent clause of this sentence. The main verb is απαν ισταντ , and dependent on it are five nominative plural participles connected by various coordinate conjunctions, some positive and some negative. Commentary 21 υδ επιµειγνυντες νεµµεν ιτε και ...υκ εντες υδ ε φυτευντες ... (της) τε ...ηγ υµενι αν' ηγ υµενι επικρατειν. ηγ υµενι introduces indirect discourse with accusative and infinitive, but when the accusative subject of the infinitive is the same as that of the leading verb, the accusative is omitted. Sm. §§937, 1972. Hence, “thinking that they . .” αν goes with επικρατειν, επικρα- indicating that in direct discourse, it was a potential optative: τιµεν αν , “we would obtain . .” Sm. §§1846, 2023. επικρατεω takes the genitive. 2.3. τηςγης η αρ ιστη . Normally, we would expect η αρ ιστη γης, but this is a characteristic mode of expression for Thucydides. 2.4. δυναµεις τισι. Thucydides, who does not want to talk about cities yet, for that is the point of the discussion, uses such indefinite expressions to mean either territories or persons or both. Hence, “some powers be- came greater than some [others]” or “some people became greater than other people.” τε ... ενεπιυν ... καιε πι υλευντ . The τε ... και combination connects the two finite verbs. εµπιεω . When used of circumstances and conditions, this verb means “cause, produce.” LSJ s.v. II.3. επι υλευω means “plot against someone (dat.),” and the middle transfor- mation makes the dative the subject, so επι υλευµαι means “I get plotted against.” γυν γε υν 2.5. Combination of and , usually translated, “at any rate.” “γυν commonly confirms a previous general assertion by giving a special instance of its truth” (Sm. §2830). εκ τυ επι πλειστν. An adverb or a prepositional phrase can be made to ι serve as a noun by placing it in attributive position after an article. E.g., νυν ιε ντελει , “the now (men)” (i.e., contemporaries); , “those in office.” επι πλειστν means “over the greatest distance” or “over the longest 22 THUCYDIDES BOOK I period of time.” LSJ s.v. πλειστς IV.3. εκ πλειστυ means “from the longest time ago.” LSJ s.v. εκ III.1. This expression seems to be a con- flation of the two. Some editors have believed there is a textual problem here and want to read something like εκ παλαιτα τυ. διατ ας µετικιας εςτα αλλα µη µιως αυηθη ναι εςτα αλλα 2.6. . means “in other parts of Greece.” αυηθη ναι is the infinitive of indirect discourse after λγυ —hence, “of the theory that there was not the same increase in other parts of Greece due to immigration [as there was in Attica].” µετικια means “settlement in Attica” by this interpretation. This reading argues that Attica increased its population by immigration, i.e., by the acquisition of metics. Other editors read µετικησεις , “migra- tions from the original land,” instead, arguing that because populations were shifting constantly, other cities in Greece could not grow, whereas Athens, being secure, did not lose population. Gomme translates, “Here is a very good example to prove my point that, owing to the continual shifting of population, the rest of Greece did not advance (in security) as much as Attica.” ως ε αιν ν . Accusative absolute introduced with ως . Sm. §§2076–78. Usually, only participles of personal verbs in the accusative absolute have ως . Here, ως with the absolute construction marks the ground of belief on which the agent acts. Sm. §2086d. Hence, “[on the grounds that] it was secure.” µει"ω . Predicate accusative. “Verbs meaning to appoint, call, choose, con- sider, make, name, show, and the like may take a second accusative as predicate to the direct object” (Sm. §1613). ωστε introduces an expression of result. The two result constructions are ωστε plus the infinitive and ωστε plus the indicative. Sm. §§2249–78. ωστε plus the infinitive is general, marking a possible result, but not an actual one (“so that as a general rule, most of the time, . .”), as in “he behaved in such a manner as to please his friends.” ωστε plus the indica- tive is specific, marking a result that actually happened, as in “so as a matter of fact, he actually .
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