CHAPTER LXXXIII
τῇ ἐσβολῇ τῆς Λύγκου—for gen. cf. ch. 1, 7. For the description of the ‘pass into Lyncus’ see Arnold. The pass crossed a chain of mountains, and descended by a gorge and stream: cf. ch. 127, 17.
λόγοις—with
ποιῆσαι, line 11.
καὶ γάρ τι καί—we have a somewhat similar order infr. line 16: so ch. 5, 4: 54, 13. For the force of
ἐπεκηρυκεύετο see note on ch. 27, 14.
μέσῳ δικαστῇ ἐπιτρέπειν—‘to entrust the matter to the mediation of Brasidas’.
μέσος δικαστής is an arbitrator,
μέσος implying interposition as well as impartiality; see Arnold.
ὲπιτρέπω is regularly used without an object expressed of referring a question to arbitration:
i. 28,
ἤθελον τῷ ἐν Δελφοῖς μαντείῳ ἐπιτρέπειν: so Dem. passim.
μὴ ὑπεξελεῖν—‘not to remove from (lit. for) Perdiccas his grounds of apprehension’; i.e. not to make his position too secure.
ὑπεξαιρῶ means to remove secretly or gradually, or to remove to begin with (ch. 4, 15, note); hence to clear from one's path:
Plat. Rep. 519 B,
ὑπεξαιρεῖν τούτους δεῖ τὸν τύραννον εἰ μέλλει ἄρξειν.
κοινῇ μᾶλλον—(1) ‘in a more impartial spirit’ (Poppo, Classen, etc.). The adjective is not unusual with this meaning, e.g.
iii. 53,
μὴ οὐ κοινοὶ ἀποβῆτε, ‘lest you should not prove impartial judges’. No instance is however given of this sense of the adverb. Arnold and Krüger therefore take it to mean (2) that Brasidas claimed ‘a joint voice’ in dealing with Arrhibaeus; whereas Perdiccas insisted that he was merely engaged to act as his auxiliary.
ἠξίου—‘felt himself entitled’. ‘Perdiccas had promised to make his neighbours allies of the Lacedaemonians. This gave Brasidas a right to interfere. For, he would argue, you are not making an ally but an enemy of Arrhibaeus’ (Jowett).
οὔτε—with
τε line 23.
καθαιρέτην—‘to overthrow’; a common sense of
καθαιρῶ. The subst. is not found elsewhere in Attic Greek: it is used by Dio Cassius.
ἐκ διαφορᾶς—probably ‘after a quarrel’, as in ch. 125, 6:
v. 42,
ἐκ διαφορᾶς περὶ αὐτοῦ. Arnold however considers this to be one of the many adverbial expressions with
ἐκ, equivalent to ‘in decided opposition to Perdiccas’.
ἀδικεῖσθαι—note the use of the present, lit. ‘to be the victim of a wrong’: the pres. of
ἀδικῶ ‘to be a wrong doer’ is used in the same way as
νικῶ, ‘to be victorious’,
φεύγω, ‘to be in exile’, etc.
The short account here given shows the broad and generous spirit of Brasidas, as well as the arrogance and fickleness of Perdiccas, who was always ready to quarrel with his allies.
