FOR THE FREEDOM OF THE RHODIANS
§ 3. now it will be seen: i.e. if you come to a right decision, and help the Rhodians.
§ 5. the Egyptians. See Speech on Naval Boards, § 31 n.
§ 6. to advise you: i.e. in the Speech on the Naval Boards (see especially §§ 10, 11 of that Speech).
§ 9. Ariobarzanes, Satrap of the Hellespont, joined in the general revolt of the princes of Asia Minor against Persia in 362, at first secretly (as though making war against other satraps) but afterwards openly. Timotheus was sent to help him, on the understanding that he must not break the Peace of Antalcidas (378 B.C.), according to which the Greek cities in Asia were to belong to the king, but the rest were to be independent (except that Athens was to retain Lemnos, Imbros, and Scyros). When Ariobarzanes broke out in open revolt, Timotheus could not help him without breaking the first provision; but the Persian occupation tion of Samos was itself a violation of the second, and he was therefore justified in relieving the town.
§ 11. while he is in her neighbourhood. Artaxerxes almost certainly went in person to Egypt about this time. (That he went before 346 is proved by Isocrates, Philippus, § 101; and he was no doubt expected to go, even before he went.) The alternative rendering, 'since he is still to be a neighbouring power to herself,' is less good, since he would be this, whether he conquered Egypt or not.
§ 14. Rhodians who are now in possession: i.e. the oligarchs, who held the town with the help of Caria.
some of their fellow-citizens: i.e. some of the democratic party.
§ 15. official patron ([Greek: proxenos]). The 'official patron' of another State in Athens was necessarily an Athenian, and so differed from the modern consul, whom he otherwise resembled in many ways (cf. Phillipson, International Law and Custom of Ancient Greece and Rome, vol. i, pp. 147-56).
§ 17. publicly provided: i.e. in treaties between the States.
§ 22. when our democracy, &c.: i.e. in 404, when, at the conclusion of the Peloponnesian War, the tyranny of the Thirty was established, and a very large number of democratic citizens were driven into exile. The Argives refused the Spartan demand for the surrender of some of these to the Thirty (Diodorus xiv. 6).
§ 23. one who is a barbarian-aye, and a woman ([Greek: _barbaron anthr_opon kai tauta gynaika_]). This has been taken to refer (1) to Artaxerxes and Artemisia. But [Greek: kai tauta] cannot be simply [Greek: _pros tont_o_], and [Greek: kai tauta gynaika] must refer to the same person as [Greek: _barbaron anthr_opon_]; (2) to Artaxerxes alone, the words [Greek: kai tauta gynaika] being a gratuitous insult such as it was customary for Athenians to level at any Persian; (3) to Artemisia alone, [Greek: anthr_opos] being feminine here as often. It is not possible to decide certainly between (2) and (3). Artemisia is more prominent in the speech than the king, but it is the king who is referred to in the next sentence.
§ 24. rendered Athens weak. The success of Sparta in the Peloponnesian War was rendered possible, to a great extent, by the supply of funds from Persia. In 401 Cyrus made his famous expedition against Artaxerxes II, and Clearchus (with other generals) commanded the Greek troops which assisted him. The death of Cyrus in the battle of Cunaxa in 401 put an end to his rebellion.
§ 25. rights of the rest of the world. Weil suggests that it may have been argued that to intervene in Rhodian affairs would be to break the treaty made with the allies in 355 (about), at the end of the Social War, whereby their independence was guaranteed.
§ 26. Chalcedon was on the Asiatic shore of the Bosporus, and therefore by the Peace of Antalcidas belonged to the king (see n. on § 9). By the same treaty, Selymbria, on the north coast of the Propontis, ought to have been independent. The Byzantines, who had obtained their independence of Athens in the Social War, were extending their influence greatly at this time.
§ 27. the treaty: again the Peace of Antalcidas.
even if there actually are such advisers: or, 'even if any one actually asserts the existence of such persons.'
§ 29. two treaties. The first must be the Peace of Callias (444 B.C.), the terms of which are given in the Speech on the Embassy, § 273. The second was the Peace of Antalcidas.
§ 30. the knowledge of what is right. The parallel passage in § 1 seems to confirm this rendering, rather than the alternative, 'the intention to do what is right.'
§ 33. oligarchical. This expression is partly directed at those who, in opposing the exiled democrats, supported the oligarchs of Rhodes; and it may be partly explained by the fact that the policy of Eubulus, who wished to avoid all interferences which might lead to war, was particularly satisfactory to the wealthier classes in Athens. But it was a common practice to accuse an opponent of anti-democratic sentiments, and of trying to get the better of the people by illegitimate means (cf. Speech on Embassy, § 314, &c.).
§ 35. Cf. Speech on Naval Boards, § 41.