T. G. Tucker, Commentary on Thucydides: Book 8

οἱ δὲ τετρακόσιοι. δὲ in apodosis is common in Thucydides. The nearest parallel to the present place is iii. 98, μέχρι μὲν οὖν οἱ τοξόται εἶχόν τε τὰ βέλη αὐτοῖς καὶ οἷοί τε ἦσαν χρῆσθαι, οἱ δὲ ἀντεῖχον.

πρυτάνεις ἀπεκλήρωσαν They proceeded in the constitutional way so far. In the regular βουλή the ten tribes took the πρυτανεία in turn, and lots were cast for the order. Of the fifty πρυτάνεις for thirty-five days, there were five bodies of ten πρόεδροι for seven days each, and of these there was an ἐπιστάτης for each day. The casting of lots for πρυτάνεις here in all probability includes the subdivisions πρόεδροι, ἐπιστάτης. πρυτάνεις is the general term.

ὅσα πρὸς τοὺς θεοὺς Cf. c. 92, § 9, ὅσον καὶ ἀπὸ βοῆς ἕνεκα ὠργίζετο τοῖς ὁπλίταις; iv. 48, ὅσα γε κατὰ τὸν πόλεμον τόνδε; vii. 11, ὅσα γε κατὰ γῆν; Dem. 272, ὅσον καθ᾽ ἕνα ἄνδρα. Cf. quantum ad. Either the indicative or the ‘restrictive’ infinitive may be supplied.

εὐχαῖς καὶ θυσίαις i.e. they performed the εἰσιτήρια (εἰσηλύσια in Corp. Inscr. 3173) in honour of Zeus Βουλαῖος and Athena Βουλαία.

πολὺ μεταλλάξαντες . . διοικήσεως ‘having changed (things) greatly from the democratic system.’ πολὺ is adverbial. Less well ‘having changed a great part of . . .,’ which would rather be πολλὰ.

πλὴν frequently = πλὴν ὅτι, e.g. Hdt. vii. 32.

τὰ δὲ ἄλλα κ.τ.λ. The τά τε ἄλλα of Classen (followed by P-S) is undesirable. Thucydides began as if he would proceed μεταλλάξαντες . . . κατὰ κράτος ἔνεμον τὴν πόλιν. But after διοικήσεως he inserts a qualification ‘only they did not set about recalling the exiles, because of Alcibiades,’ after which he continues ‘yet in other respects, etc.,’ as if the parenthetic qualification had been a main sentence without πλὴν. That is to say, κατὰ κράτος ἔνεμον τὴν πόλιν would be grammatically sufficient and correct, as also would be τοὺς μὲν φεύγοντας οὐ . . . ἕνεκα, τὰ δὲ ἄλλα κ.τ.λ. Cf. vii. 33, σχεδὸν γάρ τι πᾶσα ἡ Σικελία, πλὴν Ἀκραγαντίνων, (οὗτοι δ᾽ οὐδὲ μεθ᾽ ἑτέρων ἦσαν), οἱ δ᾽ ἄλλοι . . . ἐβοήθουν.

ἐπιτήδειοι ὑπεξαιρεθῆναι cf. Andoc. 34 (37), ἐπιτήδειος ὀστρακισθῆναι. The active infin. would have the same sense, i. 138, ἄξιος θαυμάσαι. Jelf, § 667.

μετεστήσαντο ‘had them removed’ = ‘banished them.’ Aeschin. Ctes. 129, τοὺς μὲν ἐναγεῖς καὶ τῶν πεπραγμένων αἰτίους μετεστήσαντο, τοὺς δὲ δι᾽ εὐσέβειαν φυγόντας κατήγαγον. In i. 79, μεταστησάμενοι πάντας = ‘had strangers removed.’ μεταστῆσαι (act.) is frequent of banishment. Haacke's notion ‘brought them over to their side’ is away from the mark. The proceedings are κατὰ κράτος.

εἰκὸς εἶναι κ.τ.λ. a brachylogy for εἰκὸς εἶναι μᾶλλον ξυγχωρεῖν, ἅτε σφίσι καὶ οὐκέτι τῷ ἀπίστῳ δήμῳ ἂν ξυγχωροῦντα: ‘and that it was only reasonable that he should be more ready to make terms, masmuch as he would be making terms with them and no longer with the fickle democracy.’