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Ἔχει— = παρέχει: ‘does not support a conclusion which can justly cause you alarm.’ [τὸ] ἐκφοβῆσαι— omitting τὸ take ἐκφοβῆσαι with δικαίαν, as in IV. 17 δίκαιοί εἰσι καὶ ἀπιστότατοι εἶναι. The conclusion they drew from the preceding battle was that they would be defeated in the coming battle: and this conclusion caused them φοβεῖσθαι τὴν μέλλουσαν. But the battle, they are told, does not afford the τεκμήρια for such a conclusion. (τὸ ἐκφοβῆσαι cannot be accus. of respect, as in c. 53 τὸ προταλαιπωρεῖν, because such an accus. would here certainly contain a reference to the expected issue of the coming fight. The usual translation ‘ground for fear’ gives a wrong sense to every one of the three words. If πεφοβῆσθαι were read, the construction would be δικαίαν πεφοβῆσθαι, = ‘which it is right to fear,’ ἡ τέκμαρσις δικαία ἐστι —πεφοβῆσθαι being equivalent to δἰκαιόν ἐστι τὴν τέκμαρσιν πεφοβῆσθαι, infin. of purpose.)
Commentary on Thucydides Book 2. E.C. Marchant. London. MacMillan & Company. 1891.
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