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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 February 2013
Thucydides 11, 45, 2. 
, 
.
It would be imprudent for a commentator on this famous passage who wishes to suggest that its importance for an understanding of the position of women in Athens is greatly exaggerated to offer more dian a tentative view of its significance, and die remarks below should be taken in this light.
page 47 note 1 Mrs Margaret Alexiou of Newnham College has kindly pointed out to me that this feature is characteristic of such occasions [cf. Lysias, II, 1–2; Dem. LX, 1; Plato, , Menex. 236Google Scholar E], and may be paralleled from tragedy, where a hesitant opening to a 
is almost invariable, Aesch., Pers. 694–7, 700–2Google Scholar; Cho. 89–91; Soph., Trach. 947–9Google Scholar; Eur., H.F. 1378–82.Google Scholar She has also noted that this phenomenon, especially associated with questioning the ability of the singer to do justice to the dead, runs in an unbroken line from classical times through Byzantine authors to the present day.
page 48 note 1 See, e.g., Isaeus, VII, 30; iv, 19; n, 46; [Dem.] XLIII, 83–4, etc.
page 48 note 2 Gomme's notes ad loc. make this abundantly clear.
page 48 note 3 E.g. Philoctemon in Isaeus, vi, 5; Hagnias in [Dem.] XLIII, 4 had also adopted a daughter before going on the mission which led to his death in 396 B.C.
page 49 note 1 Gomme (ad loc.) argues that 
and 
are both, by implication, complimentary; if he is right (as I believe) the point becomes even clearer—the widows are now not less than worthy of their late husbands; they must not become so.
page 49 note 2 Whether we may envisage the possibility of her going even further, and getting a name for licentiousness, is dubious; licentiousness is not the main characteristic of middle-aged women in comedy. The soldier's widow in Aristophanes (Thesm. 446–52) may be thought more typical; nor does her mode of making a living imply that she will remain indoors—quite the reverse; like other poor women she worked in the 
. Compare Dem. LVII, 33–5.
page 49 note 3 Mrs Alexiou has drawn my attention also to Ditt. S.I.G.3 1219, from near Pergamum, and to laws of Syracuse on this subject prior to the time of Gelon (Diod. XI, 38). The laws (probably falsely) attributed to Charondas in Stobaeus XLIV, 24 may also be cited, and the discouragement by the philosophers of excessive extravagance in their own obsequies: Diog. L. v, 53 (Theophrastus), v, 61 (Strato), v, 70 (Lyco).