“Thucydides, an Athenian, composed this history of the war
1 ἀφέλοι Us. (coll. [220] 14): ἀφέλοιτο libri 2 εὐπετεστέραν PM1V: εὐεπεστέραν M2: εὐεπεστάτην F 4 ἰωδέτων M: ὃ δ’ ἐγὼν F || λάχετε στεφάνων PMV: λάχει F 5 γὰρ F: om. PMV 6 αὐτοὺς ὁμοίους F: ὁμοίους PMV: τόπους μήτε καθ’ ins. Usenerus 9 τᾶν τ’] τ’ αὖτ’ P: τ’ αὖ M: ἄν τ’ F: τῶν τ’ V || ἐαριδρόπων F: ἔαριδρέπων PM: ἐἀριδρέπτων V 13 ἡ] μὴ F || μηκυνομένη FM2: μηκυνθεῖσα PM1V 14 διερισμός M: διορισμός V 17 ὃ F: ὡς PMV || δὲ] τε F || ἀοιδὰν codd.: λοιβὰν s 18 ἀφώνου FM: ἄφωνον PV || διατεθὲν τε F: διόθεν τέ με PMV 19 πορευθέντα· οἱ δε F: πορευθέντες ἀοιδαν (-δὰν M, -δανὶ V) PMV 20 ἀρχόμενον] ἀρχαῖοι μόνον F 22 μοι F: μοι χρόνος PV: μοι χρόνων M 25 τῶν] τὸν P
1. ποιήσειε ... ποιήσει: cp. [220] 14, [256] 23.
6. If Usener’s supplement be not accepted, we might read τῷ μηδὲ κατὰ τοὺς ὁμοίους σχηματισμούς, κτλ.
10. δεῦρο συγκρούονται, ‘meet here with a clash,’ as it were.
17. παράκειται κτλ.: viz. the ν of ἀοιδᾶν comes next to the δ in διόθεν, and the ι at the end of ἀγλαΐᾳ precedes the ι in ἴδετε.—For ν and δ in juxtaposition cp. English and (where the d is often slurred in pronunciation) and, on the other hand, English sound (where the d is not original).
19. The ι at the end of ἀγλαΐᾳ seems, therefore, to have been regarded by Dionysius as a separate letter, and not as an ι ἀνεκφώνητον. Perhaps it was sounded in music; cp. the final e in French. In Dionysius’ time it was not uncommon to omit it even in writing: πολλοὶ γὰρ χωρὶς τοῦ ι γράφουσι τὰς δοτικάς, καὶ ἐκβάλλουσι δὲ τὸ ἔθος φυσικὴν αἰτίαν οὐκ ἔχον (Strabo xiv. 1. 50).
22. ἐγγένηταί μοι: cp. de Lysia c. 16 ἵνα δὲ καὶ περὶ τῶν ἰδεῶν ἐγγένηταί μοι τὰ προσήκοντα εἰπεῖν, κτλ.
23. Bircovius compares, with the following passage of Thucydides, the opening of Sallust’s Bell. Iug. v. 1: “Bellum scripturus sum, quod populus Romanus cum Iugurtha rege Numidarum gessit, primum quia magnum et atrox variaque victoria fuit, dehinc quia tum primum superbiae nobilitatis obviam itum est; quae contentio divina et humana cuncta permiscuit eoque vecordiae processit ut studiis civilibus bellum atque vastitas Italiae finem faceret.”
24. τοῦ προοιμίου: probably the first twenty-three chapters are meant—as far as the word Ἐπίδαμνός ἐστι πόλις κτλ.