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Παραλιπόντι—as ἁπτομένῳ 49, 5, ὑπερβάντι 96, 1. ἀτοπίας—‘omitting many peculiarities,’ πολλὰ ἀτοπίας being like μέγα ἰσχίος 97, 4, and the common expressions εἰς τοσοῦτο, εἰς τοῦτο with gen., as Demosth. 21, 62 εἰς τοσοῦτ᾽ ἀναιδείας ἀφίκετο. Cf. c. 17, 4. διαφερόντως—lit. differently to one as compared with another, i.e. peculiarities ‘which marked individual cases.’ πρὸς=‘compared with,’ as in 62, 3. ἐπὶ πᾶν—cf. ἐπὶ μέγα 76, 4, ἐπὶ πλεῖστον 34, 8, 35, 3; translate with τὴν ἰδέαν, ‘its general nature.’ επὶ is local. ἰσέαν— contrast the meaning in c. 19, 1. παρελύπει—παρα- denotes simultaneous action or intrusion on something more important. Cf. Plat. Phaedo 65 C λογἰζεται κάλλιστα ὅταν αὐτὴν τούτων μηδὲν παραλυπῇ. Cf. παρενοχλεῖν. κατ᾽ ἐκεῖνον—i. e. throughout the time that the plague lasted. γἐνοιτο—contrast the mood in 49, 1: here the general form is required by the sense. Cf. 49, 6.
Ἀμελείᾳ—causal, some might have been saved had they been treated. θεραπευόμενοι—‘in spite of’ etc. ἕν τε οὐδὲ ἓν—a very strong neg., for which cf. Demosth. 23, 70 ἓν οὐδ᾽ ὁτιοῦν τούτων, and for οὐδὲν resolved, Andoc. 1, 29 οὔτε μεῖζον οὔτ᾽ ἔλαττον οὐδὲ ἕν. ὡς εἰπεῖν—qualifies the universal statement Shil. remarks that Thuc. never writes ὡς ἔπος εἰπεῖν ὅ τι χρῆν προσφέροντας—i.e. ὅ τι χρῆν προσφέρειν ὥστε ὠφελείν. The partic. really belongs to χρῆν. This irregularity is found also with δεῖ. Kr. Gr. Gr. 56, 10, 5. προσφέροντας —a medical term, to interfere with the course of a malady, etc., by any means. Cf. Plat. Phaedo 63 D δεῖν οὐδὲν τοιοῦτον προσφέρειν τῷ φαρμάκῳ. τοῦτο—c. 53, 3 ὅ τι ἤδη ἡδὺ ... τοῦτο κ.τ.λ., 64, 6. This ‘epanaleptic’ οὗτος is commonest after relative clauses, as Isaeus, 1, 28 Κλεώνυμος ὃς ἦν ἡμῖν οἰκειότατος ... οὗτος κ.τ.λ., but at any rate in colloquial Attic it was freely used even when no rel. preceded.
Ἰσχύος πέρι—cf. c. 62, 1, ‘as regards physical strength or weakness,’ i.e. ‘whether strong or weak.’ ξυνῄρει—subject αὐτό = τὸ νόσημα.
Δεινότατον—pred. to (a) ἀθυμία, (b) ὄτι .. ἔθνη̣σκον. πολλῷ μᾶλλον—sc. ἢ διεφθείροντο ὑπὸ τοῦ κακοῦ, because the worst possible thing to do in illness is to lose hope: they abandoned themselves to despair and really threw their lives away, instead of resisting. ἀφ᾽ ἑτέρου θ.— = ἀπὸ τοῦ ἕτερον θεραπεῦσαι. ἀναπιμπλάμενοι—the technical word for taking infection. Cf. Plat. Phaedo, p. 67 A μὴ ἀναπιμπλώμεθα τῆς τούτου φύσεως. So ἀναπλἑως, infected, ib. p. 83 D. τοῦτο— i.e. the contagion, because (a) the fear of catching the disease caused neglect of the sick, (b) while those who attended the sick caught it.
Μὴ θέλοιεν—according to the MSS., which are quite worthless in such a case, the orators said μὴ θέλειν and μὴ ἐθέλειν indiscriminately Shil. prints ᾿θέλοιεν here; so some other edd. after μὴ. It is probable that ἐθέλω is, after all, the invariable prose form. (See Rutherford, New Phryn. p. 416, Meisterhans, p. 142.) ἀπώλλυντο ... ἐκενώθη̣σαν—the complexive aor. again gives the result of the verb in imperf. Cf. c. 50, 1. τοῦ θεραπεύσοντος—cf. Aesch. Prom. V. 27 ὁ λωφήσων γὰρ οὐ πέφυκέ πω. The art. refers to no person in particular. Kr. Gr. Gr. 50, 4, 3. The fut. partic. with art. is not common. M. T. 826. ἀρετῆς— = φιλανθρωπίας. Cf. c. 40, 4. αἰσχύνῃ—cf. c. 43, 1. ὀλοφύρσεις—the complorationes over those who died: friends had to go because relatives actually wearied even of performing the proper offices for the dead. The καὶ before ὀλοφύρσεις shows that having already neglected to attend to their sick, they also took no notice of them when they died. τῶν ἀπογιγνομένων—cf. c. 34, 2. The imperf. is used of the constant deaths, as ἀπώλλυντο etc. above. ἐξέκαμνον—‘wearied of,’ so ἀποκάμν ειν occasionally. ὑπὸ . . νικώμενοι—c. 47, 4.
Ἐπὶ πλέον—c. 35, 3. Thuc. uses this expression about a dozen times in this sense (μᾶλλον). πονούμενον—cf. c. 49, 3. ἐν τῷ θαρσαλέῳ εἶναι—cf. c. 60 ἐν ἴσῳ (εἶναι), III. 22, 6 ἐν ἀπόρῳ εἶναι, and many others. κούφης—‘vain,’ because ἂν διαφθαρῆναι implies ‘if they fell ill with any other disease.’ They fancied that they could only die of old age. ὑπ᾽ ἄλλου .. διαφθαρῆναι—see on c. 47, 4.
Commentary on Thucydides Book 2. E.C. Marchant. London. MacMillan & Company. 1891.
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