1. Polybius, Histories, 5.33.2, 8.11.3-8.11.6, 12.28.10, 34.1.3 (2nd cent. BCE - 2nd cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • Ephorus • Ephorus of Cyme • Ephorus of Cyme,
Found in books: Bianchetti et al (2015) 280; Hau (2017) 248, 249; Kingsley Monti and Rood (2022) 382; Konig and Wiater (2022) 5; König and Wiater (2022) 5
5.33.2. περὶ ὧν ἐγώ, παραιτησάμενος Ἔφορον τὸν πρῶτον καὶ μόνον ἐπιβεβλημένον τὰ καθόλου γράφειν, τὸ μὲν πλείω λέγειν ἢ μνημονεύειν τινὸς τῶν ἄλλων ἐπʼ ὀνόματος παρήσω,
8.11.3. καὶ μὴν οὐδὲ περὶ τὰς ὁλοσχερεῖς διαλήψεις οὐδεὶς ἂν εὐδοκήσειε τῷ προειρημένῳ συγγραφεῖ· ὅς γʼ ἐπιβαλόμενος γράφειν τὰς Ἑλληνικὰς πράξεις ἀφʼ ὧν Θουκυδίδης ἀπέλιπε, καὶ συνεγγίσας τοῖς Λευκτρικοῖς καιροῖς καὶ τοῖς ἐπιφανεστάτοις τῶν Ἑλληνικῶν ἔργων, τὴν μὲν Ἑλλάδα μεταξὺ καὶ τὰς ταύτης ἐπιβολὰς ἀπέρριψε, μεταλαβὼν δὲ τὴν ὑπόθεσιν τὰς Φιλίππου πράξεις προύθετο γράφειν. 8.11.4. καίτοι γε πολλῷ σεμνότερον ἦν καὶ δικαιότερον ἐν τῇ περὶ τῆς Ἑλλάδος ὑποθέσει τὰ πεπραγμένα Φιλίππῳ συμπεριλαβεῖν ἤπερ ἐν τῇ Φιλίππου τὰ τῆς Ἑλλάδος. οὐδὲ γὰρ προκαταληφθεὶς ὑπὸ βασιλικῆς δυναστείας, 8.11.5. καὶ τυχὼν ἐξουσίας, οὐδεὶς ἂν ἐπέσχε σὺν καιρῷ ποιήσασθαι μετάβασιν ἐπὶ τὸ τῆς Ἑλλάδος ὄνομα καὶ πρόσωπον· ἀπὸ δὲ ταύτης ἀρξάμενος καὶ προβὰς ἐπὶ ποσὸν οὐδʼ ὅλως οὐδεὶς ἂν ἠλλάξατο μονάρχου πρόσχημα καὶ βίον, ἀκεραίῳ χρώμενος γνώμῃ. 8.11.6. καὶ τί δήποτʼ ἦν τὸ τὰς τηλικαύτας ἐναντιώσεις βιασάμενον παριδεῖν Θεόπομπον; εἰ μὴ νὴ Δίʼ ὅτι ἐκείνης μὲν τῆς ὑποθέσεως τέλος ἦν τὸ καλόν, τῆς δὲ κατὰ Φίλιππον τὸ συμφέρον.' '
34.1.3. Πολύβιος φήσας περὶ τῶν Ἑλληνικῶν καλῶς μὲν Εὔδοξον, κάλλιστα δʼ Ἔφορον ἐξηγεῖσθαι περὶ κτίσεων,''. None | 5.33.2. \xa0Now, while paying all due deference to Ephorus, the first and only writer who really undertook a general history, I\xa0will avoid criticizing at length or mentioning by name any of the others, and will simply say this much, that certain writers of history in my own times after giving an account of the war between Rome and Carthage in three or four pages, maintain that they write universal history. <
8.11.3. \xa0Again, no one could approve of the general scheme of this writer. Having set himself the task of writing the history of Greece from the point at which Thucydides leaves off, just when he was approaching the battle of Leuctra and the most brilliant period of Greek history, he abandoned Greece and her efforts, and changing his plan decided to write the history of Philip. <' "8.11.4. \xa0Surely it would have been much more dignified and fairer to include Philip's achievements in the history of Greece than to include the history of Greece in that of Philip. <" '8.11.5. \xa0For not even a man preoccupied by his devotion to royalty would, if he had the power and had found a suitable occasion, have hesitated to transfer the leading part and title of his work to Greece; and no one in his sound senses who had begun to write the history of Greece and had made some progress in it would have exchanged this for the more pompous biography of a king. < 8.11.6. \xa0What can it have been which forced Theopompus to overlook such flagrant inconsistencies, if it were not that in writing the one history his motive was to do good, in writing that of Philip to further his own interests? <' "
12.28.10. 1. \xa0It appears to me that the dignity of history also demands such a man.,2. \xa0Plato, as we know, tells us that human affairs will then go well when either philosophers become kings or kings study philosophy,,3. \xa0and I\xa0would say that it will be well with history either when men of action undertake to write history,,4. \xa0not as now happens in a perfunctory manner, but when in the belief that this is a most necessary and most noble thing they apply themselves all through their life to it with undivided attention,,5. \xa0or again when wouldâ\x80\x91be authors regard a training in actual affairs as necessary for writing history. Before this be so the errors of historians will never cease.,6. \xa0Timaeus never gave a moment's thought to this, but though he spent all his life in exile in one single place, though he almost seems to have deliberately denied himself any active part in war or politics or any personal experience gained by travel and observation, yet, for some unknown reason, he has acquired the reputation of being a leading author.,7. \xa0That such is the character of Timaeus can easily be shown from his own avowal.,8. \xa0For in the preface to the sixth book he says that some suppose that greater talent, more industry, and more previous training are required for declamatory than for historical writing. Such opinions, he says, formerly incurred Ephorus's disapproval,,9. \xa0but as that writer could give no satisfactory answer to those who held them, he himself attempts to institute a comparison between history and declamatory writing, a most surprising thing to do, firstly in that his statement about Ephorus is false. For Ephorus, while throughout his whole work he is admirable in his phraseology, method, and the originality of his thought, is most eloquent in his digressions and in the expression of his personal judgement, whenever, in fact, he allows himself to enlarge on any subject,,11. \xa0and it so happens that his remarks on the difference between historians and speech-writers are peculiarly charming and convincing.,12. \xa0But Timaeus, in order not to seem to be copying Ephorus, besides making a false statement about him has at the same time condemned all other historians. For dealing with matters, treated by others correctly, at inordinate length, in a confused manner, and in every respect worse, he thinks that not a living soul will notice this. Actually in order to glorify history he says that the difference between it and declamatory writing is as great as that between real buildings or furniture and the views and compositions we see in scene-paintings." '
34.1.3. \xa0Polybius says that in regard to Greece Eudoxus has given a good and Ephorus a very good account of the foundation of cities, genealogies, migrations, <''. None |
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4. Strabo, Geography, 12.3.21
Tagged with subjects: • Ephorus • Ephorus of Cyme
Found in books: Bianchetti et al (2015) 264; Sweeney (2013) 139
| 12.3.21. Some change the text and make it read Alazones, others Amazones, and for the words from Alybe they read from Alope, or from Alobe, calling the Scythians beyond the Borysthenes River Alazones, and also Callipidae and other names — names which Hellanicus and Herodotus and Eudoxus have foisted on us — and placing the Amazons between Mysia and Caria and Lydia near Cyme, which is the opinion also of Ephorus, who was a native of Cyme. And this opinion might perhaps not be unreasonable, for he may mean the country which was later settled by the Aeolians and the Ionians, but earlier by the Amazons. And there are certain cities, it is said, which got their names from the Amazons, I mean Ephesus, Smyrna, Cyme, and Myrina. But how could Alybe, or, as some call it, Alope or Alobe, be found in this region, and how about far away, and how about the birthplace of silver?''. None |
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