ἰδίᾳ —in contrast with what the government was doing κοινῇ .
 κατά —often of the motive or reason , e.g. II. 87 
 
 ξυμπαραγενομένων κατὰ φιλίαν .
 πρόξενοι —the fact that there were more representatives 
 of Athens than one at Mytilene might show that the office was hereditary in a family, but more probably the title of πρόξενος καὶ εὐεργέτης had been granted by Athens to members of different Mytilenean families. Aristotle in Pol. 1304 a says that Dexander ἦρξε τῆς στάσεως καὶ τοὺς Ἀθηναίους παρώξυνε πρόξενος ὤν : he had a private quarrel with a member of the aristocratic party; from this small matter πολλῶν ἐγένετο ἀρχὴ κακῶν . In any case it would have been the duty of the Proxenus to inform Athens of movements in Mytilene unfavourable to her interests even before the war; but doubtless the quarrel was now an exasperating motive to him, and led directly to the outbreak of stasis , for it was a dispute about property and intermarriage between families of the opposed parties.
 ξυνοικίζουσι —i.e. attempting to make the island into a single πόλις under one government, and in this case, an oligarchy.
 ξυγγενῶν — Lesbos being of Boeotian (Aeolic) origin. To intervene on behalf of kinsmen was under all circumstances deemed justifiable among Greek states.
 εἰ μή τις —‘unless they mean to,’ the fut. indic. marking the urgency; cf. VIII. 91 
 
 εἰ μή τις ἤδη φυλάξεται .
 νόσου —during 430 and 429 B.C. 
 ἄρτι καθισταμένου —‘just becoming established’ (i.e. settled, chronic). Cf. I. 1 
 
 ἀρξάμενος ( ξυγγράψαι ) εὐθὺς καθισταμένου . If we render thus, it makes no difference whether Thuc. means the ten years' or the twenty-seven years' war. In either case, ἀκμάζοντος shows that ‘in its infancy’ is wrong. But Classen's ‘in the middle period’ seems impossible: for it is inconceivable that καθισταμένου τοῦ πολέμοι should mean either ‘just beginning,’ as he understands I 1, 
 or ‘in the middle’ at will. In V. 25 
 
 εὐθὺς ἄλλη ταραχὴ καθίστατο the verb means not merely ‘arose,’ but ‘tended to become permanent,’ applying to a period , not to a moment. 
 ἀκμάζοντος —ἄρτι
 does not extend to this. 
									A period of ἀκμή 
									is of course meant. Athens was now beginning to feel the strain on her finances (see c. 19 ); and her position in Chalcidice was very precarious. (Vollgraff proposes to add ἤδη before ἀκμάζοντος , but this is not necessary.)
 μεῖζον μέρος νέμοντες —‘attaching greater importance to their wish that it was not true’ (than to the allegations). For ἀληθῆ cf. I. 8 
 
 πλωιμώτερα ἐγένετο νἐμειν μέρος or μοῖραν several times in tragedy: Aesch. PV. 294 , Soph. Trachin. 1238 , Eur. Supp. 241 ; cf. τὸ ἴσον νέμειν 
 I. 71, 
 
 ἔλασσον νἐμειν 
 VI. 88, 
 
 πλέον ν. 
 Eur. Hec. 868 , c. 48, 1. 
 παρασκευήν refers of course to the preparations of c. 2, 2 (cf. c. 2, 3).
 δείσαντες —ingressive.