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

οὐ δημοτικήν—‘unconstitutional.’

ἑτοῖμος ἦν . . κρίνεσθαι—i.e. he wished the εἰσαγγελία of Pythonicus to be tried in a court at once. But (by a vote of the Assembly) the case was postponed, everything being ready for the expedition to depart. [εἴ τι τούτων εἰρ. ἦν]—this ἦν ought to be ἐστί, since the clause would necessarily be an indirect question. On the other hand εἰ μὲν . . εἴργαστο below is an unusual form of condition, representing εἰ μὲν . . εἴργασμαι (compare M.T. § 701).

τὰ τῆς π—‘the details of the armament.’

ἄρχειν—‘retain his command.’

ἐπεμαρτύρετο—(1) with infin. = ‘beseech’; (2) with ὅτι = ‘urge.’ ἀπόντος πέρι αὐτοῦ—ἀπόντος is placed first because it is emphatic.

πρὶν διαγνῶσι—M.T. § 648; cf. c. 10, 5.

ἐπὶ τοσούτῳ ς—‘in command of so large an army.’ This is the only instance of this use in Thuc.; but cf. Dinarchus I. 74 ἐπὶ τοῖς ξένοις . . ἐγένετο: Demosth. 54, 3 ἕωσπερ ἦμεν ἐπὶ τῇ φρουρᾷ.

τό τε στράτευμα . . ὅ τε δῆμος—cf. II. 22 ἐκκλησίαν τε οὐκ ἐποίει . . τήν τε πόλιν ἐφύλασσε. The double τε is often thus used to introduce the details.

μὴ εὔνουν ἔχῃ—i.e. the case would not be decided on its merits. There is no doubt that Alcibiades was guilty of profaning the Mysteries, but he trusted to the support of his political club (ἑταιρεία) and of the army to gain a victory over the extreme democrats. Many of the oligarchs were doubtless as guilty as he.

δι᾽ ἐκεῖνον—c. 16, 6.

ἀπέτρεπον καὶ ἀπέσπευδον—imperf. of attempt. Bloomfield quotes Herod. VII. 17 ὸ ἀποσπεύδων Ξέρξην στρατεύεσθαι . . ἀποτράπων τὸ χρεὸν γενέσθαι.

ἐνιέντες = subornantes, not found elsewhere in Attic in this sense.

ἔλεγον = suadebant.

ἐλθόντα = ‘on his return.’

ἐν ήμέραις ῥηταῖς—‘within a fixed time after his return’; cf. Demosth. 23, 72 τί οὖν ὁ νόμος κελεύει; . . ἔν τισιν είρημένοις χρόνοις ἀπελθεῖν. Aeschines II. 109 βουλεύσασθαι τὸν δῆμον ὑπὲρ είρήνης ἐν τακταῖς ἡμέραις.

ἐκ μείζονος διαβολῆς . . ἀγωνίσασθαι—as in Lys. 3, 48 ἐκ τοιούτων πραγμάτων εἰς τοιούτους ἀγῶνας καταστῆναι.