36-38

Stephanos then came to Megara and became a client of Neaira. After she told him about her treatment at the hands of Phrynion, he vowed to protect her, to keep her as his wife, and to introduce her children into his phratry.

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Ἀλκισθένους ἐνιαυτόν: i.e., 372/1 BCE

ὡς: a causal conjunction (G. 633d, S. 3000)

ὥστε διοικεῖν: natural result clause

ἀνελεύθεροι: with respect to money matters this adjective means “stingy.”

ξένων δὲ οὐ πάνυ ἐπιδημία ἦν: “there was not much residence of foreigners at all,” i.e., Megara was quite inhospitable to foreigners at that time, for reasons about to be listed. ἐπιδημία: when this word is used of foreigners, it refers to their coming to and staying in a place that is not their home city.

τοὺς μὲν Μεγαρέας...τῆς δὲ θαλάττης: note the μέν/δέ contrast being drawn

ἐξῆν < ἐξεστίν: see §3.

ἐπανελθεῖν < ἐπανέρχομαι

ἐπὶ τούτῳ: “on this condition” (S. 2279), with the condition spelled out in the ὥστε clause (S. 2268)

ἀπηλλάχθαι < ἀπαλλάττω

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ὡς: here, temporal conjunction

ἠ εἰρήνη: a peace treaty was signed in the summer of 371 BCE ending a two years’ war and guaranteeing the independence of all Greek poleis.

ἐπὶ Φρασικλείδου ἄρχοντος: 371/0 BCE

ἡ μάχη ἡ ἐν Λεύκτροις: Thebes had wanted to sign the peace treaty (mentioned above) on behalf of all the Boiotians, but Athens and Sparta objected, and war followed. At the battle of Leuktra, Sparta was defeated, and Sparta’s power essentially came to an end.

ὕβριν: ὕβρις is an important concept in ancient Greek law and thought, referring to violently insulting behavior (and sometimes to the state of mind underlying this behavior).

ἐπιδοῦσα ἅ...ἔχουσα: “handing over to him (Stephanos) the property she had (i.e., had taken or been given) from him (Phrynion) when she left (Athens),” as described in §35. ἅ is an abbreviated form of ταῦτα ἅ, where the elided ταῦτα is the object of ἐπιδοῦσα, and ἅ is the object of ἔχουσα.

διὰ τὸ ἠδικηκέναι μέν αὐτή: “because of the wrong she had done him” (by absconding with his property). The manuscripts have αὐτήν, which would reverse the meaning. 

ὀργίλως ἔχειν: for ἔχω + adverb, see §12; take ἔχειν as parallel to ἠδικηκέναι (both are objects of διά).

εἰδυῖα < οἶδα

προΐσταται: it is unclear (see Patteson 1978: 68-69) whether this verb is being used in its technical sense to mean “to set him up as her προστάτης,” i.e., her citizen patron (all freed slaves and metics had προστάται) (Carey 1992: 104-5), or in a looser sense to mean “to place oneself under [someone’s] protection” (Kapparis 1999: 107).

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ἔπαρας: “encouraging” < ἐπαίρω, “to lift up,” used figuratively

φυσήσας < φυσάω, “to inflate, puff up,” used figuratively

ὡς κλαύσοιτο: supply a verb of saying (hinted at with the preceding λόγῳ) to introduce this (secondary sequence) indirect statement. κλαύσοιτο: “would lament,” i.e., would regret it, < κλαίω. Kapparis 1999: 245 points out that “metaphorically used it implies threat of physical violence.”

ἕξων...εἰσάξων...ποιήσων: all of these participles modify an implied Stephanos, future tense indicating his intent.

εἰσάξων εἰς τοὺς φράτερας: see above §13. Here Stephanos is offering to introduce Neaira’s children to his phratry as his own.

ὡς αὐτοῦ ὄντας: ὡς + circumstantial participle = “on the grounds that” (G. 593c, S. 2086); in this case, “on the grounds that they are his [children]”

ἀδικήσει: understand Neaira as the object of this verb; supply a verb of saying to introduce this clause. Kapparis 1999: 245 suggests that there is a shift to direct speech (hence the indicative, rather than the optative, which we saw with κλαύσοιτο); we might also explain this as a retained indicative. Either way, the force is to emphasize Stephanos’ promise that no one would hurt her.