E.C. Marchant, Commentary on Thucydides: Book 6

παρακελευστούς—Goller quotes Photius s.r., οἱ ἐκ παρακελεύσεως καὶ παρακλήσεως συλλαμβάνοντες. It was deemed contrary to order (εὐκοσμία) in the Ecclesia to appeal (παρακελεύεσθαι) to persons, except of course while making a speech, and it appears that there were penalties for any interruption of the kind. (The evidence for this is Aeschines 1, 61, where παρακελεύηται is surely misunderstood by Schomann de Com. Ath., E T. 119.) It was the business of the πρυτάνεις, on whom see c. 14, 1, ἐπιμελεῖσθαι εὐκοσμίας.

ἀντιπαρακελεύομαι—‘appeal in turn,’ and in the regular manner, not irregularly as Alc. has done.

καταισχυνθῆναι . . ὅπως μή—‘i.e. not to be shamed into fear lest he may seem to be weak,’ M.T. § 370.

μηδ᾽ . . εἶναι—co-ordinate with μὴ καταισχυνθῆναι.

αὐτοί—i.e. even without Alc. to encourage them.

δυσέρωτας—this word is found in Lysias and Xenophon; then not in prose until Lucian, Aristides, Plutarch, Dio Cass., Aelian.

μέγιστον δὴ τῶν πρίν—as I. 1 ἀξιολογώτατον τῶν προγεγενημένων, and several other cases in Thuc. There are familiar imitations in Milton. Cf. ὠκυμορώτατος ἄλλων.

ἀναρριπτούσης—Phrynichus in Bekker's Anecdota, p. 18, 1 ἀναρρῖψαι κίνδυνον, παρὰ τὸ ἀναρρῖψαι κύβον, περὶ τῶν ἀφειδῶς ἑαυτοὺς εἰς κινδύνους ἀφιέντων. After Herod. and Thuc. the phrase does not occur in Gk. prose until Aristides and Aelian.

οὐ μεμπτοῖς—we have no fault to find with legard to boundaries. This is a thrust at the envoys of Segesta; cf. περὶ γῆς ἀμφισβητήτου c. 6, 2. The boundaries are those ‘which nature has fixed’ (Freeman). Ἰόνιος κόλπος=either the whole of the Adriatic, or, as here, the southern part of it (Poppo). Σικελικὸς κόλπος=the sea S. of the Ionian, from the E. eoast of Sicily to Crete. (Horacc, however, gives to Siculum mare a different sense. See edd. on Odes II. 12, 2. A Roman naturally understood by mare Sic. the sea between Italy and the north coast of Sicily. In Acts c. 28 Ἀδρία=Ἰόνιος κόλπος.)

διὰ πελἀγους—sc. ἤν τις πλέῃ. It was not usual to take this route to Sicily, but, as Freeman says, it is assumed as possible.

καθ̓ αὑτούς—a common use of κατά with reflexive pron., esp. with ἑαυτόν (-ούς). Sometimes a further definition is added, such as μόνος, ἰδίᾳ, αὐτός. Aristoph. Vesp. 786 κατ᾽ ἐμαυτὸν κοὐ μεθ̓ ἑτέρου.

τοῖς δ᾽ Ἐ. εἰπεῖν—depends on ἀντιπαρακελεύομαι.

ἄνευ—without consulting the Athenian Ecclesia, ἄνευ τῆς ἡμετέρας γνώμης.

καὶ ξυνῆψαν . . καὶ κατ—the double καί serves to balance the clauses.

ὠφελίας δέ—cf. on c. 11, 1.