ὥρμηντο—see note on ch. 1. 11. πρὸς τοὺς Ἀργείους is probably to be taken with ξυμμαχίαν ποιεῖσθαι, so also ii. 59, 1, πρὸς τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους ὤρμηντο ξυγχωρεῖν. The infinitive might however be explanatory, as in i. 50, 1, πρὸς τοὺς ἀνθρώπους ἐτράποντο φονεύειν. For the ambiguity of position, which is a Thucydidean mannerism, see note on iv. 40, 2.
αἰσθόμενοι τὸν θροῦν—cf. ch. 29, 12. διδασκάλους γενομένους—so viii. 45, 2, διδάσκαλος πάντων γιγνόμενος. Similar instances are collected by Classen on iii. 2, 3, μηνυταὶ γίγνονται τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις: see also Poppo on i. 132, 5, μηνυτὴς γίγνεται.
προκαταλαβει_ν—i. 57, 4, προκαταλαμβάνειν τῶν πόλεων τὰς ἀποστάσεις: also with accusative of the person and absolutely. ᾐτιῶντο—‘expostulated with them on’, with accusative. τήν τε—τε and καί couple the two main grounds of complaint, the general stirring up of disaffection and the contemplated alliance with Argos in particular. The second division of the sentence with καί is modified in construction after the conditional clause εἰ Ἁργείοις..., and has a fresh verb ἔφασαν with παραβήσεσθαί τε ..καὶ ἀδικεῖν dependent. Krüger and others take καὶ εἰ Ἀργείοις as corresponding to τὴν ἐσήγησιν and dependent on ᾐτιῶντο ‘if they should’, i.e. they deprecated the contingency of their secession to Argos. Such a use of εἰ is justifiable by examples, e.g. iv. 85, 4, δυσχερὲς ποιούμενοι εἰ μὴ έδέξασθε. But to begin afresh with παραβήσεσθαί τε ἔφασαν, ‘and they said they would be breaking their oaths’, seems to weaken the sentence; which appears rather to be one connected paragraph.
ἐσήγησιν—iv. 76, 2, Πτοιοδώρου ἐσηγουμένου: so vi. 99, 2 etc.: vin. 48, 6 ἐσηγητὰς τῶν κακῶν τῷ δήμῳ. ἐσήγησις appears to be found here only in classical Greek. It is quoted from Dio Cas. in the sense of rogatio.
καὶ ἤδη ἀδικεῖν—‘and were already in the wrong’. εἰρημένον—so ch. 39, 15 etc. See Goodwin § 851. The Lacedaemonians appeal to the fundamental principles of the Peloponnesian confederacy, as implied below in the ‘oaths of the allies’ and the ‘ancient oaths’.
τὰς Ἀθηναίων σπονδάς—‘the truce with Athens’. The ‘adnominal’ genitives in this chapter are worthy of note; line 12, θεῶν κώλυμα: line 22, ξυμμάχων ὅρκους, the oaths taken by, or sworn to the allies: hne 24, θεῶν πίστεις, pledges ratified by the names of gods. τὸ πλῆθος—‘the majority’; i. 125, τὸ πλῆθος ἐψηφίσαντο πολεμεῖν.
ὅσοι οὺδ̓ αὐτοί—‘who, like the Corinthians, had not accepted the truce’. οὐδέ=‘also not’, its most usual meaning. The dissatisfied allies are named ch. 17, 21.
σφίσιν—‘for them’, i.e. to restore to them; ch. 32, 23. Sollium (Κορινθίων πόλισμα) had been taken by the Athenians in the first year of the war (ii. 30, 1); while Anactorium, a town at the mouth of the Ambracian gulf, was betrayed to them in 425 (iv. 49).
ἐλασσοῦσθαι—‘to be at a disadvantage’, have their claims and rights disregarded; ch. 34, 13 i. 77, 3, εἴ καὶ ὁπωσοῦν ἐλασσωθῶσιν: iv. 58, 2, ὡς ἕκαστοί τι ἐλασσοῦσθαι ἐνόμιζον.
πρόσχημα ποιούμενοι—with infinitive construction, as in i. 96, 1, πρύσχημα δὲ ἦν ἀμύνασθαι. μετὰ Ποτιδαιατῶν— in 432; see i. 58, 1. ἅλλους ὕστερον—sc. κοινῇ, with the rest of the allies.
ἐσιόντες—so ch. 35, 15: ch. 40, 10: noted by Kruger as an exclusively Thucydidean usage. θεῶν πίστεις—Kruger quotes ὄρκοι θεῶν from Xenophon, Anab. ii. 5, 7 etc. εἰρῆσθαι δ̓ ὅτι—‘the wording was’, citing part of the whole clause given in line 10.
