πρὸς γὰρ ἅν—i.e. but for this treaty between Athens and Sparta; cf. iv. 54, 3, ἁνέστησαν γὰρ ἂν Κυθηρίους. Classen believes Ἀθηναίους to be a copyist's error, and reads Ἀργείους, comparing the concluding words of ch. 14. Treaty between Athens and Sparta. ‘The new agreement was a defensive alliance made between the Athenians and Lacedaemonians, and was confined to one or two points. The clause which is repeated here from the previous treaty, empowering the two contracting parties, of themselves and with out the consent of their allies, to add or take away from either treaty, naturally created a panic among the Peloponnesians (ch. 29, 15), whose independence was threatened by it. The allies or tributaries of Athens were not in a position to make a similar complaint, for most of them had suffered already what the Lacedaemonian allies dreaded, nor had those of them who were independent anything to fear from Lacedaemon. The provision respecting the revolt of the slaves applies to Lacedaemon only. This indicates that the Athenians were in no such danger from their slaves, as the Lacedaemonians were from the Helots. The older treaty remained in force, and, in accordance with its provisions, the prisoners of Sphacteria now restored’ (Jowett).
κατὰ τάδε—these words are commonly printed, not as part of the treaty, but as the end of the foregoing chapter. Classen follows Kruger in placing them as they stand in the text; see ch. 47, 11: ch. 77, 1: ch. 79, 1.
Λακεδαιμόνιοι—Classen, following Portus, adds καὶ Αθηναῖοι. Hofmann suggests that we may have the text of the treaty as signed by the Lacedaemonians. ἤν δέ τινες— δέ ought possibly to be omitted, as in ch. 47, 13, and other passages.
ὠφελεῖν—‘help’; in the treaty given in ch. 47 we have the more ordinary βοηθεῖν.
τρόπῳ δυνατόν—the same form occurs twice in ch. 47. Krüger compares Plat. Rep. 458 E, γάμους ποιήσομεν ἱεροὺς εἰς ὃύναμιν ὅτι μάλιστα.
καταλύειν δὲ ἅμα—i.e. neither city is to make a separate peace. καταλύειν usually takes a case, as τὸν πόλεμον in ch. 47, 20; καταλύεσθαι, as in iv. 18, 4, being used for ‘making terms’, the middle implying joint or reciprocal action. In viii. 58, fin. we have ἣν δὲ καταλύειν βούλονται τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις, ἐν ὸμοίῳ καταλύεσθαι.
ἄμφω τώ—the regular form of the feminine dual; see note on iv. 4, 2, τὼ χεῖρε.
εἷναι—Kruger quotes Xen. Hell. iv. 4, 8, πάντα εἶναι ἀδόλως. Classen notes that such phraseology is archaic, as the language of treaties and public documents often is.
ἡ δουλεία—‘the slave-class’. Lid. and Scott give instances of the collective use of the word from Plato and Aristotle: cf. Tac. Ann. xii. 17, servitii decem milia offerebant. ἐπανιστῆται—i. 115, 4, τῷ δήμῳ ἐπανξ́στησαν.
