William Watson Goodwin, Commentary on Demosthenes: On the Crown

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1. οὐκ belongs to both περιέρχομαι (3) and ἀκούω (5).— ἑτέρων, i.e. the Macedonians; as ἕτερος (10) and ἕτερον (§ 320.9) refer to Alexander.—εὐτυχήμασι: the victories of Alexander at the Granicus (334 B.C.), at Issus (333 B.C.), and at Arbela (331 B.C.), were still fresh in recollection, the last not yet a year old.

3, 4. εὐαγγελιζόμενος, properly an- nouncing good tidings (cf. εὐαγγέλιον, Gospel), but here congratulating on good news, e.g. saying “This is a great victory.”—τούτοις οὓς ἂν... οἴωμαι: the apparently definite antecedent is peculiar before the conditional relative clause. He means any of those (a well-known class) who I ever think are likely to report thither (to Macedonia) such an event as my congratulating them on a victory of Alexander. It has, I believe, never been asked who these men may have been. There were, of course, many Macedonians in Athens at this time, and there were many Athenians who would welcome news of Macedonian victories. But the greatest Macedonian who ever lived, the philosopher Aristotle, was then a resident in Athens at the head of the Lyceum. His relations with the Court of Pella and with Alexander were most intimate. Who would be more likely to report to Pella, or even to Alexander himself, that Demosthenes had congratulated him on the victory at Arbela, if he had any such pleasant fact to report? It would be interesting, though not quite pleasant, to find an allusion to the great philosopher in this striking passage.

4. τῶν...ἀγαθῶν: these advantages may be the early successes of the Spartan king Agis in his revolt against Macedonia in the spring of 330 B.C. (Diod. XVII. 63). Aeschines (167) quotes Demosthenes as saying of this, ὡς ἀντιπράττων᾽ Αλεξάνδρῳ, “ὁμολογῶ τὰ Λακωνικὰ συστῆσαι: ὁμολογῶ Θετταλοὺς καὶ Περραιβοὺς ἀφιστάναι.” See Grote XII., ch. 95. The words τῶν ...ἀγαθῶν more probably refer to the interest of Athens in the reverses of Alexander, which were occasionally reported from Asia. Aeschines (164) describes Demosthenes as once reporting that Alexander was shut up in Cilicia, and αὐτίκα μάλα ἔμελλε συμπατηθήσεσθαι ὑπὸ τῆς Περσικῆς ἵππου. This shows that the mere report of a disaster to Alexander roused the spirit of liberty at Athens, even in her deep humiliation.

6. κύπτων εἰς τὴν γῆν: cf. Caes. B. G. I. 32, 2, tristes capite demisso terram intueri.

7. διασύρουσιν: see note on § 317.6.—ὥσπερ οὐχ with the participle shows that there is nothing conditional in the expression: see note on § 276.1.

8. ἔξω βλέπουσι: cf. Plut. Arat. 15, ταῖς ἐλπίσιν ἔξω βλέπων.

9. ἐν οἷς (cf. § 19.3) belongs equally to ἀτυχησάντων and εὐτύχησεν.

10. ταῦτ̓, this state of things (ἐν οἷς...ἕτερος), understood also as subject of μενεῖ.