Boeotian Refusal to Return the Athenian Dead

Notes

1. 4.99.1κρατῆσαι αὐτῶν — The genitive pronoun αὐτῶν can refer either to "the dead" (τοὺς νεκρούς) or to "the territory" (Oropia or the borderlands). However, given the context that they could not recover the dead by force, and since κρατέω governs the genitive in the sense of "getting possession of," it is more natural to interpret it as referring to "the dead."
2. 4.99.1οὐδ’ αὖ ἐσπένδοντο δῆθεν ὑπὲρ τῆς ἐκείνων — The imperfect verb ἐσπένδοντο expresses a refusal or lack of intention (they had no intention of making a treaty). The particle δῆθεν carries a sarcastic or subjective nuance ("forsooth", "as they claimed"), mockingly pointing out the logical contradiction in the Athenian claim: the Boeotians had no intention of making a treaty over what was supposedly the Athenians' own territory (τῆς ἐκείνων, with γῆς omitted), since a treaty is only requested for foreign-held land.
3. 4.99.1τὸ δὲ ‘ἐκ τῆς ἑαυτῶν’ εὐπρεπὲς εἶναι ἀποκρίνασθαι — The articular neuter accusative article τὸ nominalizes the quoted phrase ‘ἐκ τῆς ἑαυτῶν’ ("from their own land") and serves as the subject of εὐπρεπὲς εἶναι ("was plausible/convenient"). The structure means "that [answering] 'from their own land' was a specious/convenient reply."