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Tiresias: The Ancient Mediterranean Religions Source Database



9645
Polybius, Histories, 22.8


nan After their withdrawal Apollonidas of Sicyon rose. He said that sum offered by Eumenes was a gift not unworthy of the Achaeans' acceptance, <, but that the intention of the giver and the purpose to which it was to be applied were as disgraceful and illegal as could be. <, For, as it was forbidden by law for any private person or magistrate to receive gifts, on no matter what pretext, from a king, that all should be openly bribed by accepting this money was the most illegal thing conceivable, besides being confessedly the most disgraceful. <, For that the parliament should be in Eumenes' pay every year, and discuss public affairs after swallowing a bait, so to speak, would evidently involve disgrace and hurt. <, Now it was Eumenes who was giving them money; next time it would be Prusias, and after that Seleucus. <, "And," he said, "as the interests of democracies and kings are naturally opposed, and most debates and the most important deal with out differences with the kings, <, it is evident that perforce one or the other thing will happen: either the interests of the kings will take precedence of our own; or, if this is not so, we shall appear to every one to be ungrateful in acting against our paymasters." <, So he exhorted the Achaeans not only to refuse the gift, but to detest Eumenes for his purpose in offering it. <, The next speaker was Cassander of Aegina, who reminded the Achaeans of the destitution which had overtaken the Aeginetans owing to their being members of the League at the time when Publius Sulpicius Galba had attacked Aegina with his fleet and sold into slavery all its unhappy inhabitants; <, and how, as I have narrated in a previous book, the Aetolians gained possession of the town by their treaty with Rome, and handed it over to Attalus on receipt of thirty talents. <, Laying this before the eyes of the Achaeans, he begged Eumenes not to fish for the good offices of the Achaeans by making advantageous offers, but by giving up the city of Aegina, to secure without a dissentient voice their complete devotion. <, He exhorted the Achaeans at the same time not to accept a gift which would clearly involve their depriving the Aeginetans of all hope of deliverance in the future. <, In consequence of these speeches the people were so deeply moved that not a soul ventured to take the part of the king, but all with loud shouts rejected the proffered gift, although owing to the greatness of the sum the temptation seemed almost irresistible. <


nan1.  After their withdrawal Apollonidas of Sicyon rose. He said that sum offered by Eumenes was a gift not unworthy of the Achaeans' acceptance,,2.  but that the intention of the giver and the purpose to which it was to be applied were as disgraceful and illegal as could be.,3.  For, as it was forbidden by law for any private person or magistrate to receive gifts, on no matter what pretext, from a king, that all should be openly bribed by accepting this money was the most illegal thing conceivable, besides being confessedly the most disgraceful.,4.  For that the parliament should be in Eumenes' pay every year, and discuss public affairs after swallowing a bait, so to speak, would evidently involve disgrace and hurt.,5.  Now it was Eumenes who was giving them money; next time it would be Prusias, and after that Seleucus.,6.  "And," he said, "as the interests of democracies and kings are naturally opposed, and most debates and the most important deal with out differences with the kings,,7.  it is evident that perforce one or the other thing will happen: either the interests of the kings will take precedence of our own; or, if this is not so, we shall appear to every one to be ungrateful in acting against our paymasters.",8.  So he exhorted the Achaeans not only to refuse the gift, but to detest Eumenes for his purpose in offering it.,9.  The next speaker was Cassander of Aegina, who reminded the Achaeans of the destitution which had overtaken the Aeginetans owing to their being members of the League at the time when Publius Sulpicius Galba had attacked Aegina with his fleet and sold into slavery all its unhappy inhabitants;,10.  and how, as I have narrated in a previous book, the Aetolians gained possession of the town by their treaty with Rome, and handed it over to Attalus on receipt of thirty talents.,11.  Laying this before the eyes of the Achaeans, he begged Eumenes not to fish for the good offices of the Achaeans by making advantageous offers, but by giving up the city of Aegina, to secure without a dissentient voice their complete devotion.,12.  He exhorted the Achaeans at the same time not to accept a gift which would clearly involve their depriving the Aeginetans of all hope of deliverance in the future.,13.  In consequence of these speeches the people were so deeply moved that not a soul ventured to take the part of the king, but all with loud shouts rejected the proffered gift, although owing to the greatness of the sum the temptation seemed almost irresistible.


Intertexts (texts cited often on the same page as the searched text):

4 results
1. Polybius, Histories, 31.22.2, 31.25 (2nd cent. BCE - 2nd cent. BCE)

31.22.2.  for the same high reputation which he had possessed during his life continued when he had departed from it; and this we may say is the best proof there can be of virtue. 31.25. 1.  From that time onwards continuing in the actual conduct of life to give proof to each other of their worth, they came to regard each other with an affection like that of father and son or near relations.,2.  The first direction taken by Scipio's ambition to lead a virtuous life, was to attain a reputation for temperance and excel in this respect all the other young men of the same age.,3.  This is a high prize indeed and difficult to gain, but it was at this time easy to pursue at Rome owing to the vicious tendencies of most of the youths.,4.  For some of them had abandoned themselves to amours with boys and others to the society of courtesans, and many to musical entertainments and banquets, and the extravagance they involve, having in the course of the war with Perseus been speedily infected by the Greek laxity in these respects.,5.  So great in fact was the incontinence that had broken out among the young men in such matters, that many paid a talent for a male favourite and many three hundred drachmas for a jar of caviar.,5a.  This aroused the indignation of Cato, who said once in a public speech that it was the surest sign of deterioration in the republic when pretty boys fetch more than fields, and jars of caviar more than ploughmen.,6.  It was just at the period we are treating of that this present tendency to extravagance declared itself, first of all because they thought that now after the fall of the Macedonian kingdom their universal dominion was undisputed,,7.  and next because after the riches of Macedonia had been transported to Rome there was a great display of wealth both in public and in private.,8.  Scipio, however, setting himself to pursue the opposite course of conduct, combating all his appetites and moulding his life to be in every way coherent and uniform, in about the first five years established his universal reputation for strictness and temperance.,9.  In the next place he sedulously studied to distinguish himself from others in magimity and cleanhandedness in money matters.,10.  In this respect the part of his life he spent with his real father was an excellent grounding for him, and he had good natural impulses towards the right; but chance too helped him much in carrying out this resolve.
2. Plutarch, Demetrius, 12 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)

3. Epigraphy, Ig Ii2, 657

4. Epigraphy, Seg, 28.6, 45.101



Subjects of this text:

subject book bibliographic info
"greed, lack of" Hau, Moral History from Herodotus to Diodorus Siculus (2017) 66
"historiography, hellenistic" Hau, Moral History from Herodotus to Diodorus Siculus (2017) 66
aemilius paullus Hau, Moral History from Herodotus to Diodorus Siculus (2017) 66
alexander the great, as a spreader of greek culture Stavrianopoulou, Shifting Social Imaginaries in the Hellenistic Period: Narrations, Practices and Images (2013) 340
alexandria, capital of ptolemaic egypt Stavrianopoulou, Shifting Social Imaginaries in the Hellenistic Period: Narrations, Practices and Images (2013) 340
army, mercenary Stavrianopoulou, Shifting Social Imaginaries in the Hellenistic Period: Narrations, Practices and Images (2013) 340
army, officer Stavrianopoulou, Shifting Social Imaginaries in the Hellenistic Period: Narrations, Practices and Images (2013) 340
army, soldier Stavrianopoulou, Shifting Social Imaginaries in the Hellenistic Period: Narrations, Practices and Images (2013) 340
assembly (ekklesia) Stavrianopoulou, Shifting Social Imaginaries in the Hellenistic Period: Narrations, Practices and Images (2013) 340
athens Stavrianopoulou, Shifting Social Imaginaries in the Hellenistic Period: Narrations, Practices and Images (2013) 340
conquest Stavrianopoulou, Shifting Social Imaginaries in the Hellenistic Period: Narrations, Practices and Images (2013) 340
court Stavrianopoulou, Shifting Social Imaginaries in the Hellenistic Period: Narrations, Practices and Images (2013) 340
festival, civic Stavrianopoulou, Shifting Social Imaginaries in the Hellenistic Period: Narrations, Practices and Images (2013) 340
generosity Hau, Moral History from Herodotus to Diodorus Siculus (2017) 66
greed Hau, Moral History from Herodotus to Diodorus Siculus (2017) 66
hannibal Hau, Moral History from Herodotus to Diodorus Siculus (2017) 66
imperial office' Ando, Imperial Ideology and Provincial Loyalty in the Roman Empire (2013) 44
integrity Hau, Moral History from Herodotus to Diodorus Siculus (2017) 66
kallias, of sphettos, athenian statesman Stavrianopoulou, Shifting Social Imaginaries in the Hellenistic Period: Narrations, Practices and Images (2013) 340
mescinius rufus, lucius, metaphor, theology and Ando, Imperial Ideology and Provincial Loyalty in the Roman Empire (2013) 44
moderation Hau, Moral History from Herodotus to Diodorus Siculus (2017) 66
philippides, poet Stavrianopoulou, Shifting Social Imaginaries in the Hellenistic Period: Narrations, Practices and Images (2013) 340
plutarch, historian, view of alexander Stavrianopoulou, Shifting Social Imaginaries in the Hellenistic Period: Narrations, Practices and Images (2013) 340
scipio the younger Hau, Moral History from Herodotus to Diodorus Siculus (2017) 66
trade, trader Stavrianopoulou, Shifting Social Imaginaries in the Hellenistic Period: Narrations, Practices and Images (2013) 340