William Watson Goodwin, Commentary on Demosthenes: On the Crown

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2, 3. ἐπεπράκειν: even the best MSS. of Demosth. give this form of the plupf., while those of Plato generally have the older Attic form in -η (for -εα), as ἑωράκη in Rep. 336 D. (G. 683.)—σοὶ λοιπὸν ἦν, it remained for you, after εἰ ἐπεπράκειν, supposing that I had sold (a simple supposition).—βοᾶν might refer to the loud voice of Aesch., like πεφωνασκηκώς, § 308.10; but Demosth. uses it also of himself (§ 143.6), and it is probably no more than our cry out.

5. οὔτε ἦν...ἀπεσταλμένη τότε: Holmes calls this an “audacious assertion.” It must be remembered that ἦν ἀπεσταλμένη is not an ordinary plupf. like ἀπέσταλτο (M.T. 45), which would have meant that no embassy had ever been sent: the compound form means that there was no embassy then out on its mission. The embassies were probably informal in most cases, and no definite report was expected from them in case of failure. (See Hist. § 24.) The next sentence tells the whole truth, πάλαι ...ἐξεληλεγμένοι, i.e. all had long before this been thoroughly canvassed (and found wanting). Cf. 20.7,8 οὔτε ...ὑμῖν. Even Aeschines (II. 79) took the same view fourteen years earlier: οὐδενὸς δ᾽ ἀνθρώπων ἐπικουροῦντος τῇ πόλει, ἀλλὰ τῶν μὲν περιορώντων ὅ τι συμβήσεται, τῶν δὲ συνεπιστρατευόντων.