subject | book bibliographic info |
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polybios | Eidinow and Kindt, The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Religion (2015) 327, 328, 329, 576 Stanton, Unity and Disunity in Greek and Christian Thought under the Roman Peace (2021) 70, 71 |
polybios, historian | Stavrianopoulou, Shifting Social Imaginaries in the Hellenistic Period: Narrations, Practices and Images (2013) 107, 319 |
polybios, historian, view of alexander | Stavrianopoulou, Shifting Social Imaginaries in the Hellenistic Period: Narrations, Practices and Images (2013) 344, 345 |
polybios, historian, view of alexandria | Stavrianopoulou, Shifting Social Imaginaries in the Hellenistic Period: Narrations, Practices and Images (2013) 229, 332, 333, 345, 346, 347, 348, 349, 350, 351, 352, 353 |
polybios, historian, view of bactria | Stavrianopoulou, Shifting Social Imaginaries in the Hellenistic Period: Narrations, Practices and Images (2013) 344, 372 |
polybios, historian, view of the world | Stavrianopoulou, Shifting Social Imaginaries in the Hellenistic Period: Narrations, Practices and Images (2013) 342, 343, 344, 358 |
polybios, of megalopolis | Woolf, Tales of the Barbarians: Ethnography and Empire in the Roman West (2011) 15, 22, 23, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 70, 79, 96 |
polybios, of megalopolis, and fabius maximus-minucius rufus dispute | Konrad, The Challenge to the Auspices: Studies on Magisterial Power in the Middle Roman Republic (2022) 26, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 268, 269 |
polybios, of megalopolis, and gauls’ sack of rome | Konrad, The Challenge to the Auspices: Studies on Magisterial Power in the Middle Roman Republic (2022) 110 |
polybios, of megalopolis, archaeologia | Konrad, The Challenge to the Auspices: Studies on Magisterial Power in the Middle Roman Republic (2022) 84 |
polybios, of megalopolis, on dictator’s term of office | Konrad, The Challenge to the Auspices: Studies on Magisterial Power in the Middle Roman Republic (2022) 110, 111 |
polybios, of megalopolis, on flaminius at arretium | Konrad, The Challenge to the Auspices: Studies on Magisterial Power in the Middle Roman Republic (2022) 237 |
polybios, of megalopolis, on flaminius’ movements in | Konrad, The Challenge to the Auspices: Studies on Magisterial Power in the Middle Roman Republic (2022) 227, 228, 230, 247, 252, 253 |
polybios, of megalopolis, on hannibal’s crossing of arno marshes | Konrad, The Challenge to the Auspices: Studies on Magisterial Power in the Middle Roman Republic (2022) 219, 220 |
polybios, of megalopolis, on hannibal’s routes into italy | Konrad, The Challenge to the Auspices: Studies on Magisterial Power in the Middle Roman Republic (2022) 213, 217, 218 |
polybios, of megalopolis, on hannibal’s surprise of flaminius | Konrad, The Challenge to the Auspices: Studies on Magisterial Power in the Middle Roman Republic (2022) 217, 219, 220, 224, 225 |
polybios, of megalopolis, on magister equitum | Konrad, The Challenge to the Auspices: Studies on Magisterial Power in the Middle Roman Republic (2022) 114, 115 |
polybios, of megalopolis, on suspension of magistrates under dictator | Konrad, The Challenge to the Auspices: Studies on Magisterial Power in the Middle Roman Republic (2022) 78, 79, 81, 82, 83, 84 |
polybios, of sardeis, writer | Marek, In the Land of a Thousand Gods: A History of Asia Minor in the Ancient World (2019) 471 |
41 validated results for "polybios" |
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1. Hebrew Bible, Genesis, 9.20 (9th cent. BCE - 3rd cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: • Polybius Found in books: Geljon and Runia, Philo of Alexandria: On Cultivation: Introduction, Translation and Commentary (2013) 31, 118, 132, 142, 172, 174, 181, 183, 247; Geljon and Runia, Philo of Alexandria: On Planting: Introduction, Translation and Commentary (2019) 94 9.20 And Noah, the man of the land, began and planted a vineyard. |
2. Herodotus, Histories, 3.80-3.82, 4.33, 4.39-4.41, 4.64-4.65, 7.143.1, 8.36-8.37, 8.39, 9.122 (5th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: • Polybios, historian, view of Alexandria • Polybius • Polybius v–vi, • Polybius, Histories • Polybius, and contingency • Polybius, government, analysis of • Polybius, on Megale Hellas Found in books: Amendola, The Demades Papyrus (P.Berol. inv. 13045): A New Text with Commentary (2022) 303; Bianchetti et al., Brill’s Companion to Ancient Geography: The Inhabited World in Greek and Roman Tradition (2015) 168; Gagne, Cosmography and the Idea of Hyperborea in Ancient Greece (2021), 191; Gera, Judith (2014) 397; Konig and Wiater, Late Hellenistic Greek Literature in Dialogue (2022) 75, 265; Konig, The Folds of Olympus: Mountains in Ancient Greek and Roman Culture (2022) 360, 365; Kowalzig, Singing for the Gods: Performances of Myth and Ritual in Archaic and Classical Greece (2007) 308; König and Wiater, Late Hellenistic Greek Literature in Dialogue (2022) 75, 265; Poulsen, Usages of the Past in Roman Historiography (2021), 116, 269; Scott, An Age of Iron and Rust: Cassius Dio and the History of His Time (2023) 50; Stavrianopoulou, Shifting Social Imaginaries in the Hellenistic Period: Narrations, Practices and Images (2013) 352 3.80 After the tumult quieted down, and five days passed, the rebels against the Magi held a council on the whole state of affairs, at which sentiments were uttered which to some Greeks seem incredible, but there is no doubt that they were spoken. Otanes was for turning the government over to the Persian people: “It seems to me,” he said, “that there can no longer be a single sovereign over us, for that is not pleasant or good. You saw the insolence of Cambyses, how far it went, and you had your share of the insolence of the Magus. How can monarchy be a fit thing, when the ruler can do what he wants with impunity? Give this power to the best man on earth, and it would stir him to unaccustomed thoughts. Insolence is created in him by the good things to hand, while from birth envy is rooted in man. Acquiring the two he possesses complete evil; for being satiated he does many reckless things, some from insolence, some from envy. And yet an absolute ruler ought to be free of envy, having all good things; but he becomes the opposite of this towards his citizens; he envies the best who thrive and live, and is pleased by the worst of his fellows; and he is the best confidant of slander. of all men he is the most inconsistent; for if you admire him modestly he is angry that you do not give him excessive attention, but if one gives him excessive attention he is angry because one is a flatter. But I have yet worse to say of him than that; he upsets the ancestral ways and rapes women and kills indiscriminately. But the rule of the multitude has in the first place the loveliest name of all, equality, and does in the second place none of the things that a monarch does. It determines offices by lot, and holds power accountable, and conducts all deliberating publicly. Therefore I give my opinion that we make an end of monarchy and exalt the multitude, for all things are possible for the majority.”, 3.81 Such was the judgment of Otanes: but Megabyzus urged that they resort to an oligarchy. “I agree,” said he, “with all that Otanes says against the rule of one; but when he tells you to give the power to the multitude, his judgment strays from the best. Nothing is more foolish and violent than a useless mob; for men fleeing the insolence of a tyrant to fall victim to the insolence of the unguided populace is by no means to be tolerated. Whatever the one does, he does with knowledge, but for the other knowledge is impossible; how can they have knowledge who have not learned or seen for themselves what is best, but always rush headlong and drive blindly onward, like a river in flood? Let those like democracy who wish ill to Persia ; but let us choose a group of the best men and invest these with the power. For we ourselves shall be among them, and among the best men it is likely that there will be the best counsels.”, " 3.82 Such was the judgment of Megabyzus. Darius was the third to express his opinion. “It seems to me,” he said, “that Megabyzus speaks well concerning democracy but not concerning oligarchy. For if the three are proposed and all are at their best for the sake of argument, the best democracy and oligarchy and monarchy, I hold that monarchy is by far the most excellent. One could describe nothing better than the rule of the one best man; using the best judgment, he will govern the multitude with perfect wisdom, and best conceal plans made for the defeat of enemies. But in an oligarchy, the desire of many to do the state good service often produces bitter hate among them; for because each one wishes to be first and to make his opinions prevail, violent hate is the outcome, from which comes faction and from faction killing, and from killing it reverts to monarchy, and by this is shown how much better monarchy is. Then again, when the people rule it is impossible that wickedness will not occur; and when wickedness towards the state occurs, hatred does not result among the wicked, but strong alliances; for those that want to do the state harm conspire to do it together. This goes on until one of the people rises to stop such men. He therefore becomes the peoples idol, and being their idol is made their monarch; and thus he also proves that monarchy is best. But (to conclude the whole matter in one word) tell me, where did freedom come from for us and who gave it, from the people or an oligarchy or a single ruler? I believe, therefore, that we who were liberated through one man should maintain such a government, and, besides this, that we should not alter our ancestral ways that are good; that would not be better.”", 4.33 But the Delians say much more about them than any others do. They say that offerings wrapped in straw are brought from the Hyperboreans to Scythia; when these have passed Scythia, each nation in turn receives them from its neighbors until they are carried to the Adriatic sea, which is the most westerly limit of their journey; from there, they are brought on to the south, the people of Dodona being the first Greeks to receive them. From Dodona they come down to the Melian gulf, and are carried across to Euboea, and one city sends them on to another until they come to Carystus; after this, Andros is left out of their journey, for Carystians carry them to Tenos, and Tenians to Delos. Thus (they say) these offerings come to Delos. But on the first journey, the Hyperboreans sent two maidens bearing the offerings, to whom the Delians give the names Hyperoche and Laodice, and five men of their people with them as escort for safe conduct, those who are now called Perpherees and greatly honored at Delos. But when those whom they sent never returned, they took it amiss that they should be condemned always to be sending people and not getting them back, and so they carry the offerings, wrapped in straw, to their borders, and tell their neighbors to send them on from their own country to the next; and the offerings, it is said, come by this conveyance to Delos. I can say of my own knowledge that there is a custom like these offerings; namely, that when the Thracian and Paeonian women sacrifice to the Royal Artemis, they have straw with them while they sacrifice. 4.39 This is the first peninsula. But the second, beginning with Persia, stretches to the Red Sea, and is Persian land; and next, the neighboring land of Assyria; and after Assyria, Arabia; this peninsula ends (not truly but only by common consent) at the Arabian Gulf, to which Darius brought a canal from the Nile. Now from the Persian country to Phoenicia there is a wide and vast tract of land; and from Phoenicia this peninsula runs beside our sea by way of the Syrian Palestine and Egypt, which is at the end of it; in this peninsula there are just three nations. " 4.40 So much for the parts of Asia west of the Persians. But what is beyond the Persians, and Medes, and Saspires, and Colchians, east and toward the rising sun, this is bounded on the one hand by the Red Sea, and to the north by the Caspian Sea and the Araxes river, which flows toward the suns rising. As far as India, Asia is an inhabited land; but thereafter, all to the east is desolation, nor can anyone say what kind of land is there.", 4.41 Such is Asia, and such its extent. But Libya is on this second peninsula; for Libya comes next after Egypt. The Egyptian part of this peninsula is narrow; for from our sea to the Red Sea it is a distance of a hundred and twenty-five miles; that is, a thousand stades; but after this narrow part, the peninsula which is called Libya is very broad. " 4.64 As to war, these are their customs. A Scythian drinks the blood of the first man whom he has taken down. He carries the heads of all whom he has slain in the battle to his king; for if he brings a head, he receives a share of the booty taken, but not otherwise. He scalps the head by making a cut around it by the ears, then grasping the scalp and shaking the head off. Then he scrapes out the flesh with the rib of a steer, and kneads the skin with his hands, and having made it supple he keeps it for a hand towel, fastening it to the bridle of the horse which he himself rides, and taking pride in it; for he who has most scalps for hand towels is judged the best man. Many Scythians even make garments to wear out of these scalps, sewing them together like coats of skin. Many too take off the skin, nails and all, from their dead enemies right hands, and make coverings for their quivers;the human skin was, as it turned out, thick and shining, the brightest and whitest skin of all, one might say. Many flay the skin from the whole body, too, and carry it about on horseback stretched on a wooden frame.", 4.65 The heads themselves, not all of them but those of their bitterest enemies, they treat this way. Each saws off all the part beneath the eyebrows, and cleans the rest. If he is a poor man, then he covers the outside with a piece of raw hide, and so makes use of it; but if he is rich, he covers the head with the raw hide, and gilds the inside of it and uses it for a drinking-cup. Such a cup a man also makes out of the head of his own kinsman with whom he has been feuding, and whom he has defeated in single combat before the king; and if guests whom he honors visit him he will serve them with these heads, and show how the dead were his kinsfolk who fought him and were beaten by him; this they call manly valor. 7.143.1 Now there was a certain Athenian, by name and title Themistocles son of Neocles, who had lately risen to be among their chief men. He claimed that the readers of oracles had incorrectly interpreted the whole of the oracle and reasoned that if the verse really pertained to the Athenians, it would have been formulated in less mild language, calling Salamis “cruel” rather than “divine ” seeing that its inhabitants were to perish. 8.36 When the Delphians learned all this, they were very much afraid, and in their great fear they inquired of the oracle whether they should bury the sacred treasure in the ground or take it away to another country. The god told them to move nothing, saying that he was able to protect what belonged to him. Upon hearing that, the Delphians took thought for themselves. They sent their children and women overseas to Achaia. Most of the men went up to the peaks of Parnassus and carried their goods into the Corycian cave, but some escaped to Amphissa in Locris. In short, all the Delphians left the town save sixty men and the prophet. 8.37 Now when the barbarians drew near and could see the temple, the prophet, whose name was Aceratus, saw certain sacred arms, which no man might touch without sacrilege, brought out of the chamber within and laid before the shrine. So he went to tell the Delphians of this miracle, but when the barbarians came with all speed near to the temple of Athena Pronaea, they were visited by miracles yet greater than the aforesaid. Marvellous indeed it is, that weapons of war should of their own motion appear lying outside in front of the shrine, but the visitation which followed was more wondrous than anything else ever seen. When the barbarians were near to the temple of Athena Pronaea, they were struck by thunderbolts from the sky, and two peaks broken off from Parnassus came rushing among them with a mighty noise and overwhelmed many of them. In addition to this a shout and a cry of triumph were heard from the temple of Athena. " 8.39 These two, say the Delphians, were the native heroes Phylacus and Autonous, whose precincts are near the temple, Phylacus by the road itself above the shrine of Athena Pronaea, and Autonous near the Castalian spring, under the Hyarapean Peak. The rocks that fell from Parnassus were yet to be seen in my day, lying in the precinct of Athena Pronaea, from where their descent through the foreigners ranks had hurled them. Such, then, was the manner of those mens departure from the temple.", 9.122 This Artayctes who was crucified was the grandson of that Artembares who instructed the Persians in a design which they took from him and laid before Cyrus; this was its purport: “Seeing that Zeus grants lordship to the Persian people, and to you, Cyrus, among them, let us, after reducing Astyages, depart from the little and rugged land which we possess and occupy one that is better. There are many such lands on our borders, and many further distant. If we take one of these, we will all have more reasons for renown. It is only reasonable that a ruling people should act in this way, for when will we have a better opportunity than now, when we are lords of so many men and of all Asia?” Cyrus heard them, and found nothing to marvel at in their design; “Go ahead and do this,” he said; “but if you do so, be prepared no longer to be rulers but rather subjects. Soft lands breed soft men; wondrous fruits of the earth and valiant warriors grow not from the same soil.” The Persians now realized that Cyrus reasoned better than they, and they departed, choosing rather to be rulers on a barren mountain side than dwelling in tilled valleys to be slaves to others. |
3. Plato, Republic, 3.414 (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: • Polybius • Polybius, • disparagement, of Phoenicians by Polybius • innate capacity as determining ethnicity, rarely suggested by Polybius Found in books: Gruen, Ethnicity in the Ancient World - Did it matter (2020) 62; Keith and Edmondson, Roman Literary Cultures: Domestic Politics, Revolutionary Poetics, Civic Spectacle (2016) 224 NA> |
4. Thucydides, The History of The Peloponnesian War, 1.21.1, 1.22, 1.22.3-1.22.4, 3.82, 3.82.4 (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: • Polybius • Polybius, Found in books: Bianchetti et al., Brill’s Companion to Ancient Geography: The Inhabited World in Greek and Roman Tradition (2015) 315; Chrysanthou, Plutarch's 'Parallel Lives': Narrative Technique and Moral Judgement (2018) 34; Hau, Moral History from Herodotus to Diodorus Siculus (2017) 197; Kingsley Monti and Rood, The Authoritative Historian: Tradition and Innovation in Ancient Historiography (2022) 278, 320, 321, 327; Weinstein, Plato's Three-fold City and Soul (2018) 251; Wright, The Letter of Aristeas: 'Aristeas to Philocrates' or 'On the Translation of the Law of the Jews' (2015) 45 1.21.1 ἐκ δὲ τῶν εἰρημένων τεκμηρίων ὅμως τοιαῦτα ἄν τις νομίζων μάλιστα ἃ διῆλθον οὐχ ἁμαρτάνοι, καὶ οὔτε ὡς ποιηταὶ ὑμνήκασι περὶ αὐτῶν ἐπὶ τὸ μεῖζον κοσμοῦντες μᾶλλον πιστεύων, οὔτε ὡς λογογράφοι ξυνέθεσαν ἐπὶ τὸ προσαγωγότερον τῇ ἀκροάσει ἢ ἀληθέστερον, ὄντα ἀνεξέλεγκτα καὶ τὰ πολλὰ ὑπὸ χρόνου αὐτῶν ἀπίστως ἐπὶ τὸ μυθῶδες ἐκνενικηκότα, ηὑρῆσθαι δὲ ἡγησάμενος ἐκ τῶν ἐπιφανεστάτων σημείων ὡς παλαιὰ εἶναι ἀποχρώντως. 1.22.3 ἐπιπόνως δὲ ηὑρίσκετο, διότι οἱ παρόντες τοῖς ἔργοις ἑκάστοις οὐ ταὐτὰ περὶ τῶν αὐτῶν ἔλεγον, ἀλλ’ ὡς ἑκατέρων τις εὐνοίας ἢ μνήμης ἔχοι. 1.22.4 καὶ ἐς μὲν ἀκρόασιν ἴσως τὸ μὴ μυθῶδες αὐτῶν ἀτερπέστερον φανεῖται: ὅσοι δὲ βουλήσονται τῶν τε γενομένων τὸ σαφὲς σκοπεῖν καὶ τῶν μελλόντων ποτὲ αὖθις κατὰ τὸ ἀνθρώπινον τοιούτων καὶ παραπλησίων ἔσεσθαι, ὠφέλιμα κρίνειν αὐτὰ ἀρκούντως ἕξει. κτῆμά τε ἐς αἰεὶ μᾶλλον ἢ ἀγώνισμα ἐς τὸ παραχρῆμα ἀκούειν ξύγκειται. 1.22 καὶ ὅσα μὲν λόγῳ εἶπον ἕκαστοι ἢ μέλλοντες πολεμήσειν ἢ ἐν αὐτῷ ἤδη ὄντες, χαλεπὸν τὴν ἀκρίβειαν αὐτὴν τῶν λεχθέντων διαμνημονεῦσαι ἦν ἐμοί τε ὧν αὐτὸς ἤκουσα καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοθέν ποθεν ἐμοὶ ἀπαγγέλλουσιν: ὡς δ’ ἂν ἐδόκουν ἐμοὶ ἕκαστοι περὶ τῶν αἰεὶ παρόντων τὰ δέοντα μάλιστ’ εἰπεῖν, ἐχομένῳ ὅτι ἐγγύτατα τῆς ξυμπάσης γνώμης τῶν ἀληθῶς λεχθέντων, οὕτως εἴρηται. τὰ δ’ ἔργα τῶν πραχθέντων ἐν τῷ πολέμῳ οὐκ ἐκ τοῦ παρατυχόντος πυνθανόμενος ἠξίωσα γράφειν, οὐδ’ ὡς ἐμοὶ ἐδόκει, ἀλλ’ οἷς τε αὐτὸς παρῆν καὶ παρὰ τῶν ἄλλων ὅσον δυνατὸν ἀκριβείᾳ περὶ ἑκάστου ἐπεξελθών. ἐπιπόνως δὲ ηὑρίσκετο, διότι οἱ παρόντες τοῖς ἔργοις ἑκάστοις οὐ ταὐτὰ περὶ τῶν αὐτῶν ἔλεγον, ἀλλ’ ὡς ἑκατέρων τις εὐνοίας ἢ μνήμης ἔχοι. καὶ ἐς μὲν ἀκρόασιν ἴσως τὸ μὴ μυθῶδες αὐτῶν ἀτερπέστερον φανεῖται: ὅσοι δὲ βουλήσονται τῶν τε γενομένων τὸ σαφὲς σκοπεῖν καὶ τῶν μελλόντων ποτὲ αὖθις κατὰ τὸ ἀνθρώπινον τοιούτων καὶ παραπλησίων ἔσεσθαι, ὠφέλιμα κρίνειν αὐτὰ ἀρκούντως ἕξει. κτῆμά τε ἐς αἰεὶ μᾶλλον ἢ ἀγώνισμα ἐς τὸ παραχρῆμα ἀκούειν ξύγκειται. 3.82.4 καὶ τὴν εἰωθυῖαν ἀξίωσιν τῶν ὀνομάτων ἐς τὰ ἔργα ἀντήλλαξαν τῇ δικαιώσει. τόλμα μὲν γὰρ ἀλόγιστος ἀνδρεία φιλέταιρος ἐνομίσθη, μέλλησις δὲ προμηθὴς δειλία εὐπρεπής, τὸ δὲ σῶφρον τοῦ ἀνάνδρου πρόσχημα, καὶ τὸ πρὸς ἅπαν ξυνετὸν ἐπὶ πᾶν ἀργόν: τὸ δ’ ἐμπλήκτως ὀξὺ ἀνδρὸς μοίρᾳ προσετέθη, ἀσφαλείᾳ δὲ τὸ ἐπιβουλεύσασθαι ἀποτροπῆς πρόφασις εὔλογος. 3.82 οὕτως ὠμὴ <ἡ> στάσις προυχώρησε, καὶ ἔδοξε μᾶλλον, διότι ἐν τοῖς πρώτη ἐγένετο, ἐπεὶ ὕστερόν γε καὶ πᾶν ὡς εἰπεῖν τὸ Ἑλληνικὸν ἐκινήθη, διαφορῶν οὐσῶν ἑκασταχοῦ τοῖς τε τῶν δήμων προστάταις τοὺς Ἀθηναίους ἐπάγεσθαι καὶ τοῖς ὀλίγοις τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους. καὶ ἐν μὲν εἰρήνῃ οὐκ ἂν ἐχόντων πρόφασιν οὐδ’ ἑτοίμων παρακαλεῖν αὐτούς, πολεμουμένων δὲ καὶ ξυμμαχίας ἅμα ἑκατέροις τῇ τῶν ἐναντίων κακώσει καὶ σφίσιν αὐτοῖς ἐκ τοῦ αὐτοῦ προσποιήσει ῥᾳδίως αἱ ἐπαγωγαὶ τοῖς νεωτερίζειν τι βουλομένοις ἐπορίζοντο. καὶ ἐπέπεσε πολλὰ καὶ χαλεπὰ κατὰ στάσιν ταῖς πόλεσι, γιγνόμενα μὲν καὶ αἰεὶ ἐσόμενα, ἕως ἂν ἡ αὐτὴ φύσις ἀνθρώπων ᾖ, μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ ἡσυχαίτερα καὶ τοῖς εἴδεσι διηλλαγμένα, ὡς ἂν ἕκασται αἱ μεταβολαὶ τῶν ξυντυχιῶν ἐφιστῶνται. ἐν μὲν γὰρ εἰρήνῃ καὶ ἀγαθοῖς πράγμασιν αἵ τε πόλεις καὶ οἱ ἰδιῶται ἀμείνους τὰς γνώμας ἔχουσι διὰ τὸ μὴ ἐς ἀκουσίους ἀνάγκας πίπτειν: ὁ δὲ πόλεμος ὑφελὼν τὴν εὐπορίαν τοῦ καθ’ ἡμέραν βίαιος διδάσκαλος καὶ πρὸς τὰ παρόντα τὰς ὀργὰς τῶν πολλῶν ὁμοιοῖ. ἐστασίαζέ τε οὖν τὰ τῶν πόλεων, καὶ τὰ ἐφυστερίζοντά που πύστει τῶν προγενομένων πολὺ ἐπέφερε τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τοῦ καινοῦσθαι τὰς διανοίας τῶν τ’ ἐπιχειρήσεων περιτεχνήσει καὶ τῶν τιμωριῶν ἀτοπίᾳ. καὶ τὴν εἰωθυῖαν ἀξίωσιν τῶν ὀνομάτων ἐς τὰ ἔργα ἀντήλλαξαν τῇ δικαιώσει. τόλμα μὲν γὰρ ἀλόγιστος ἀνδρεία φιλέταιρος ἐνομίσθη, μέλλησις δὲ προμηθὴς δειλία εὐπρεπής, τὸ δὲ σῶφρον τοῦ ἀνάνδρου πρόσχημα, καὶ τὸ πρὸς ἅπαν ξυνετὸν ἐπὶ πᾶν ἀργόν: τὸ δ’ ἐμπλήκτως ὀξὺ ἀνδρὸς μοίρᾳ προσετέθη, ἀσφαλείᾳ δὲ τὸ ἐπιβουλεύσασθαι ἀποτροπῆς πρόφασις εὔλογος. καὶ ὁ μὲν χαλεπαίνων πιστὸς αἰεί, ὁ δ’ ἀντιλέγων αὐτῷ ὕποπτος. ἐπιβουλεύσας δέ τις τυχὼν ξυνετὸς καὶ ὑπονοήσας ἔτι δεινότερος: προβουλεύσας δὲ ὅπως μηδὲν αὐτῶν δεήσει, τῆς τε ἑταιρίας διαλυτὴς καὶ τοὺς ἐναντίους ἐκπεπληγμένος. ἁπλῶς δὲ ὁ φθάσας τὸν μέλλοντα κακόν τι δρᾶν ἐπῃνεῖτο, καὶ ὁ ἐπικελεύσας τὸν μὴ διανοούμενον. καὶ μὴν καὶ τὸ ξυγγενὲς τοῦ ἑταιρικοῦ ἀλλοτριώτερον ἐγένετο διὰ τὸ ἑτοιμότερον εἶναι ἀπροφασίστως τολμᾶν: οὐ γὰρ μετὰ τῶν κειμένων νόμων ὠφελίας αἱ τοιαῦται ξύνοδοι, ἀλλὰ παρὰ τοὺς καθεστῶτας πλεονεξίᾳ. καὶ τὰς ἐς σφᾶς αὐτοὺς πίστεις οὐ τῷ θείῳ νόμῳ μᾶλλον ἐκρατύνοντο ἢ τῷ κοινῇ τι παρανομῆσαι. τά τε ἀπὸ τῶν ἐναντίων καλῶς λεγόμενα ἐνεδέχοντο ἔργων φυλακῇ, εἰ προύχοιεν, καὶ οὐ γενναιότητι. ἀντιτιμωρήσασθαί τέ τινα περὶ πλείονος ἦν ἢ αὐτὸν μὴ προπαθεῖν. καὶ ὅρκοι εἴ που ἄρα γένοιντο ξυναλλαγῆς, ἐν τῷ αὐτίκα πρὸς τὸ ἄπορον ἑκατέρῳ διδόμενοι ἴσχυον οὐκ ἐχόντων ἄλλοθεν δύναμιν: ἐν δὲ τῷ παρατυχόντι ὁ φθάσας θαρσῆσαι, εἰ ἴδοι ἄφαρκτον, ἥδιον διὰ τὴν πίστιν ἐτιμωρεῖτο ἢ ἀπὸ τοῦ προφανοῦς, καὶ τό τε ἀσφαλὲς ἐλογίζετο καὶ ὅτι ἀπάτῃ περιγενόμενος ξυνέσεως ἀγώνισμα προσελάμβανεν. ῥᾷον δ’ οἱ πολλοὶ κακοῦργοι ὄντες δεξιοὶ κέκληνται ἢ ἀμαθεῖς ἀγαθοί, καὶ τῷ μὲν αἰσχύνονται, ἐπὶ δὲ τῷ ἀγάλλονται. πάντων δ’ αὐτῶν αἴτιον ἀρχὴ ἡ διὰ πλεονεξίαν καὶ φιλοτιμίαν: ἐκ δ’ αὐτῶν καὶ ἐς τὸ φιλονικεῖν καθισταμένων τὸ πρόθυμον. οἱ γὰρ ἐν ταῖς πόλεσι προστάντες μετὰ ὀνόματος ἑκάτεροι εὐπρεποῦς, πλήθους τε ἰσονομίας πολιτικῆς καὶ ἀριστοκρατίας σώφρονος προτιμήσει, τὰ μὲν κοινὰ λόγῳ θεραπεύοντες ἆθλα ἐποιοῦντο, παντὶ δὲ τρόπῳ ἀγωνιζόμενοι ἀλλήλων περιγίγνεσθαι ἐτόλμησάν τε τὰ δεινότατα ἐπεξῇσάν τε τὰς τιμωρίας ἔτι μείζους, οὐ μέχρι τοῦ δικαίου καὶ τῇ πόλει ξυμφόρου προτιθέντες, ἐς δὲ τὸ ἑκατέροις που αἰεὶ ἡδονὴν ἔχον ὁρίζοντες, καὶ ἢ μετὰ ψήφου ἀδίκου καταγνώσεως ἢ χειρὶ κτώμενοι τὸ κρατεῖν ἑτοῖμοι ἦσαν τὴν αὐτίκα φιλονικίαν ἐκπιμπλάναι. ὥστε εὐσεβείᾳ μὲν οὐδέτεροι ἐνόμιζον, εὐπρεπείᾳ δὲ λόγου οἷς ξυμβαίη ἐπιφθόνως τι διαπράξασθαι, ἄμεινον ἤκουον. τὰ δὲ μέσα τῶν πολιτῶν ὑπ’ ἀμφοτέρων ἢ ὅτι οὐ ξυνηγωνίζοντο ἢ φθόνῳ τοῦ περιεῖναι διεφθείροντο. " 1.21.1 On the whole, however, the conclusions I have drawn from the proofs quoted may, I believe, safely be relied on. Assuredly they will not be disturbed either by the lays of a poet displaying the exaggeration of his craft, or by the compositions of the chroniclers that are attractive at truths expense; the subjects they treat of being out of the reach of evidence, and time having robbed most of them of historical value by enthroning them in the region of legend. Turning from these, we can rest satisfied with having proceeded upon the clearest data, and having arrived at conclusions as exact as can be expected in matters of such antiquity.", " 1.22.3 My conclusions have cost me some labour from the want of coincidence between accounts of the same occurrences by different eye-witnesses, arising sometimes from imperfect memory, sometimes from undue partiality for one side or the other. 1.22.4 The absence of romance in my history will, I fear, detract somewhat from its interest; but if it be judged useful by those inquirers who desire an exact knowledge of the past as an aid to the interpretation of the future, which in the course of human things must resemble if it does not reflect it, I shall be content. In fine, I have written my work, not as an essay which is to win the applause of the moment, but as a possession for all time. " 1.22 With reference to the speeches in this history, some were delivered before the war began, others while it was going on; some I heard myself, others I got from various quarters; it was in all cases difficult to carry them word for word in ones memory, so my habit has been to make the speakers say what was in my opinion demanded of them by the various occasions, of course adhering as closely as possible to the general sense of what they really said. And with reference to the narrative of events, far from permitting myself to derive it from the first source that came to hand, I did not even trust my own impressions, but it rests partly on what I saw myself, partly on what others saw for me, the accuracy of the report being always tried by the most severe and detailed tests possible. My conclusions have cost me some labour from the want of coincidence between accounts of the same occurrences by different eye-witnesses, arising sometimes from imperfect memory, sometimes from undue partiality for one side or the other. The absence of romance in my history will, I fear, detract somewhat from its interest; but if it be judged useful by those inquirers who desire an exact knowledge of the past as an aid to the interpretation of the future, which in the course of human things must resemble if it does not reflect it, I shall be content. In fine, I have written my work, not as an essay which is to win the applause of the moment, but as a possession for all time.", 3.82.4 Words had to change their ordinary meaning and to take that which was now given them. Reckless audacity came to be considered the courage of a loyal ally; prudent hesitation, specious cowardice; moderation was held to be a cloak for unmanliness; ability to see all sides of a question inaptness to act on any. Frantic violence, became the attribute of manliness; cautious plotting, a justifiable means of self-defence. 3.82 So bloody was the march of the revolution, and the impression which it made was the greater as it was one of the first to occur. Later on, one may say, the whole Hellenic world was convulsed; struggles being everywhere made by the popular chiefs to bring in the Athenians, and by the oligarchs to introduce the Lacedaemonians. In peace there would have been neither the pretext nor the wish to make such an invitation; but in war, with an alliance always at the command of either faction for the hurt of their adversaries and their own corresponding advantage, opportunities for bringing in the foreigner were never wanting to the revolutionary parties. The sufferings which revolution entailed upon the cities were many and terrible, such as have occurred and always will occur, as long as the nature of mankind remains the same; though in a severer or milder form, and varying in their symptoms, according to the variety of the particular cases. In peace and prosperity states and individuals have better sentiments, because they do not find themselves suddenly confronted with imperious necessities; but war takes away the easy supply of daily wants, and so proves a rough master, that brings most mens characters to a level with their fortunes. Revolution thus ran its course from city to city, and the places which it arrived at last, from having heard what had been done before carried to a still greater excess the refinement of their inventions, as manifested in the cunning of their enterprises and the atrocity of their reprisals. Words had to change their ordinary meaning and to take that which was now given them. Reckless audacity came to be considered the courage of a loyal ally; prudent hesitation, specious cowardice; moderation was held to be a cloak for unmanliness; ability to see all sides of a question inaptness to act on any. Frantic violence, became the attribute of manliness; cautious plotting, a justifiable means of self-defence. The advocate of extreme measures was always trustworthy; his opponent a man to be suspected. To succeed in a plot was to have a shrewd head, to divine a plot a still shrewder; but to try to provide against having to do either was to break up your party and to be afraid of your adversaries. In fine, to forestall an intending criminal, or to suggest the idea of a crime where it was wanting, was equally commended, until even blood became a weaker tie than party, from the superior readiness of those united by the latter to dare everything without reserve; for such associations had not in view the blessings derivable from established institutions but were formed by ambition for their overthrow; and the confidence of their members in each other rested less on any religious sanction than upon complicity in crime. The fair proposals of an adversary were met with jealous precautions by the stronger of the two, and not with a generous confidence. Revenge also was held of more account than self-preservation. Oaths of reconciliation, being only proffered on either side to meet an immediate difficulty, only held good so long as no other weapon was at hand; but when opportunity offered, he who first ventured to seize it and to take his enemy off his guard, thought this perfidious vengeance sweeter than an open one, since, considerations of safety apart, success by treachery won him the palm of superior intelligence. Indeed it is generally the case that men are readier to call rogues clever than simpletons honest, and are as ashamed of being the second as they are proud of being the first. The cause of all these evils was the lust for power arising from greed and ambition; and from these passions proceeded the violence of parties once engaged in contention. The leaders in the cities, each provided with the fairest professions, on the one side with the cry of political equality of the people, on the other of a moderate aristocracy, sought prizes for themselves in those public interests which they pretended to cherish, and, recoiling from no means in their struggles for ascendancy, engaged in the direct excesses; in their acts of vengeance they went to even greater lengths, not stopping at what justice or the good of the state demanded, but making the party caprice of the moment their only standard, and invoking with equal readiness the condemnation of an unjust verdict or the authority of the strong arm to glut the animosities of the hour. Thus religion was in honor with neither party; but the use of fair phrases to arrive at guilty ends was in high reputation. Meanwhile the moderate part of the citizens perished between the two, either for not joining in the quarrel, or because envy would not suffer them to escape.", |
5. Xenophon, The Persian Expedition, 3.1.4 (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: • Polybius, and contingency Found in books: Konig and Wiater, Late Hellenistic Greek Literature in Dialogue (2022) 265; König and Wiater, Late Hellenistic Greek Literature in Dialogue (2022) 265 3.1.4 ἦν δέ τις ἐν τῇ στρατιᾷ Ξενοφῶν Ἀθηναῖος, ὃς οὔτε στρατηγὸς οὔτε λοχαγὸς οὔτε στρατιώτης ὢν συνηκολούθει, ἀλλὰ Πρόξενος αὐτὸν μετεπέμψατο οἴκοθεν ξένος ὢν ἀρχαῖος· ὑπισχνεῖτο δὲ αὐτῷ, εἰ ἔλθοι, φίλον αὐτὸν Κύρῳ ποιήσειν, ὃν αὐτὸς ἔφη κρείττω ἑαυτῷ νομίζειν τῆς πατρίδος. " 3.1.4 There was a man in the army named Xenophon, an Athenian, who was neither general nor captain nor private, but had accompanied the expedition because Proxenus, an old friend of his, had sent him at his home an invitation to go with him; Proxenus had also promised him that, if he would go, he would make him a friend of Cyrus, whom he himself regarded, so he said, as worth more to him than was his native state. 5 After reading Proxenus letter Xenophon conferred with Socrates, the Athenian, about the proposed journey; and Socrates, suspecting that his becoming a friend of Cyrus might be a cause for accusation against Xenophon on the part of the Athenian government, for the reason that Cyrus was thought to have given the Lacedaemonians zealous aid in their war against Athens, advised Xenophon to go to Delphi and consult the god in regard to this journey. 6 So Xenophon went and asked Apollo to what one of the gods he should sacrifice and pray in order best and most successfully to perform the journey which he had in mind and, after meeting with good fortune, to return home in safety; and Apollo in his response told him to what gods he must sacrifice. 7 When Xenophon came back from Delphi, he reported the oracle to Socrates; and upon hearing about it Socrates found fault with him because he did not first put the question whether it were better for him to go or stay, but decided for himself that he was to go and then asked the god as to the best way of going. However, he added, since you did put the question in that way, you must do all that the god directed." |
6. Aristotle, Soul, 474a14 (4th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: • Polybius Found in books: Konig and Wiater, Late Hellenistic Greek Literature in Dialogue (2022) 55; König and Wiater, Late Hellenistic Greek Literature in Dialogue (2022) 55 NA> |
7. Aristotle, Politics, 1272b, 1273a, 1273b (4th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: • Polybios, historian, view of Alexandria • Polybius • innate capacity as determining ethnicity, rarely suggested by Polybius Found in books: Gruen, Ethnicity in the Ancient World - Did it matter (2020) 63; Gruen, Rethinking the Other in Antiquity (2011) 120; Stavrianopoulou, Shifting Social Imaginaries in the Hellenistic Period: Narrations, Practices and Images (2013) 352 1272b as they live in an island remote from any people to corrupt them. Also the remedy which they employ for this defect is a curious one, and less characteristic of a republic than of a dynasty: often the Cosmi are expelled by a conspiracy formed among some of their actual colleagues or the private citizens. Also the Cosmi are allowed to resign during their term of office. Now it would be preferable for all these expedients to be put in force by law rather than at the discretion of individuals, for that is a dangerous principle. And the worst expedient of all is that of the suspension of the office of Cosmi, which is often brought about by members of the powerful class who wish to escape being punished; this proves that the constitution has a republican element, although it is not actually a republic but rather a dynasty. And the nobles frequently form parties among the common people and among their friends and so bring about a suspension of government, and form factions and engage in war with one another. Yet such a state of things is virtually the same as if for a period of time the state underwent an entire revolution, and the bonds of civil society were loosened. 2.22 And it is a precarious position for a state to be in, when those who wish to attack it also have the power to do so. But, as has been said, it is saved by its locality; for distance has had the same effect as alien-acts. A result of this is that with the Cretans the serf population stands firm, whereas the Helots often revolt; for the Cretans take no part in foreign empire, and also the island has only lately been invaded by warfare from abroad, rendering manifest the weakness of the legal system there. Let this suffice for our discussion of this form of constitution. 2.23 Carthage also appears to have a good constitution, with many outstanding features as compared with those of other nations, but most nearly resembling the Spartan in some points. For these three constitutions are in a way near to one another and are widely different from the others — the Cretan, the Spartan and, thirdly, that of Carthage. Many regulations at Carthage are good; and a proof of a well-regulated constitution is that the populace willingly remain faithful to the constitutional system, and that neither civil strife has arisen in any degree worth mentioning, nor yet a tyrant. 2.24 Points in which the Carthaginian constitution resembles the Spartan are the common mess-tables of its Comradeships corresponding to the Phiditia, and the magistracy of the Hundred and Four corresponding to the Ephors (except one point of superiority — the Ephors are drawn from any class, but the Carthaginians elect this magistracy by merit); the kings and the council of Elders correspond to the kings and Elders at Sparta, and it is another superior feature that the Carthaginian kings are not confined to the same family and that one of no particular distinction, and also that if any family distinguishes itself . . the Elders are to be chosen from these rather than by age; for as they are put in control of important matters, if they are men of no value they do great harm, 1273a and they have already injured the Spartan State. 2.25 Most of the points therefore in the Carthaginian system that would be criticized on the ground of their divergences happen to be common to all the constitutions of which we have spoken; but the features open to criticism as judged by the principle of an aristocracy or republic are some of them departures in the direction of democracy and others in the direction of oligarchy. The reference of some matters and not of others to the popular assembly rests with the kings in consultation with the Elders in case they agree uimously, but failing that, these matters also lie with the people; and when the kings introduce business in the assembly, they do not merely let the people sit and listen to the decisions that have been taken by their rulers, but the people have the sovereign decision, and anybody who wishes may speak against the proposals introduced, a right that does not exist under the other constitutions. The appointment by co-optation of the Boards of Five which control many important matters, and the election by these boards of the supreme magistracy of the Hundred, and also their longer tenure of authority than that of any other officers (for they are in power after they have gone out of office and before they have actually entered upon it) are oligarchical features; their receiving no pay and not being chosen by lot and other similar regulations must be set down as aristocratic, and so must the fact that the members of the Boards are the judges in all lawsuits, instead of different suits being tried by different courts as at Sparta. But the Carthaginian system diverges from aristocracy in the direction of oligarchy most signally in respect of a certain idea that is shared by the mass of mankind; they think that the rulers should be chosen not only for their merit but also for their wealth, as it is not possible for a poor man to govern well or to have leisure for his duties. If therefore election by wealth is oligarchical and election by merit aristocratic, this will be a third system exhibited in the organization of the constitution of Carthage, for there elections are made with an eye to these two qualifications, and especially elections to the most important offices, those of the kings and of the generals. But it must be held that this divergence from aristocracy is an error on the part of a lawgiver; for one of the most important points to keep in view from the outset is that the best citizens may be able to have leisure and may not have to engage in any unseemly occupation, not only when in office but also when living in private life. And if it is necessary to look to the question of means for the sake of leisure, it is a bad thing that the greatest offices of state, the kingship and the generalship, should be for sale. For this law makes wealth more honored than worth, and renders the whole state avaricious; and whatever the holders of supreme power deem honorable, the opinion of the other citizens also is certain to follow them, and a state in which virtue is not held in the highest honor, 1273b cannot be securely governed by an aristocracy. And it is probable that those who purchase office will learn by degrees to make a profit out of it, when they hold office for money spent; for it would be odd if a man of small means but respectable should want to make a profit but an inferior person when he has spent money to get elected should not want to. Hence the persons who should be in office are those most capable of holding office. And even if the lawgiver neglected to secure comfortable means for respectable people, it would at all events be better that he should provide for their leisure while in office. 2.26 And it might also be thought a bad thing for the same person to hold several offices, which is considered a distinction at Carthage. One man one job is the best rule for efficiency, and the lawgiver ought to see that this may be secured, and not appoint the same man to play the flute and make shoes. Hence except in a small city it is more statesmanlike for a larger number to share in the offices and more democratic, for it is fairer to all, as we said, and also functions are performed better and more quickly when separate than by the same people. This is clear in military and naval matters; for in both of these departments command and subordination penetrate throughout almost the whole body. 2.27 But the constitution being oligarchical they best escape the dangers by being wealthy, as they constantly send out a portion of the common people to appointments in the cities; by this means they heal the social sore and make the constitution stable. However, this is the achievement of fortune, whereas freedom from civil strife ought to be secured by the lawgiver; but as it is, suppose some misfortune occurs and the multitude of the subject class revolts, there is no remedy provided by the laws to restore tranquillity. This then is the character of the Spartan, Cretan and Carthaginian constitutions, which are justly famous. 2.28 of those that have put forward views about politics, some have taken no part in any political activities whatever but have passed their whole life as private citizens; and something has been said about almost all the writers of this class about whom there is anything noteworthy. Some on the other hand have been lawgivers, either for their native cities or even for certain foreign peoples, after having themselves been actively engaged in government; and of these some have been framers of laws only, and others of a constitution also, for instance Solon and Lycurgus, who instituted both laws and constitutions. The Spartan constitution has been discussed. As for Solon, he is considered by some people to have been a good lawgiver, as having put an end to oligarchy when it was too unqualified and having liberated the people from slavery and restored the ancestral democracy with a skilful blending of the constitution: the Council on the Areopagus being an oligarchic element, the elective magistracies aristocratic and the law-courts democratic. And although really in regard to certain of these features, the Council and the election of magistrates, |
8. Cicero, Republic, 1.63, 1.65 (2nd cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: • Polybios of Megalopolis, archaeologia • Polybios of Megalopolis, on suspension of magistrates under dictator • Polybius • Polybius, Greek historian Found in books: Bruun and Edmondson, The Oxford Handbook of Roman Epigraphy (2015) 278; Gilbert, Graver and McConnell, Power and Persuasion in Cicero's Philosophy (2023) 41; Konrad, The Challenge to the Auspices: Studies on Magisterial Power in the Middle Roman Republic (2022) 79, 84 1.63 Est vero, inquit Scipio, in pace et otio; licet enim lascivire, dum nihil metuas, ut in navi ac saepe etiam in morbo levi. Sed ut ille, qui navigat, cum subito mare coepit horrescere, et ille aeger ingravescente morbo unius opem inplorat, sic noster populus in pace et domi imperat et ipsis magistratibus minatur, recusat, appellat, provocat, in bello sic paret ut regi; valet enim salus plus quam libido. Gravioribus vero bellis etiam sine collega omne imperium nostri penes singulos esse voluerunt, quorum ipsum nomen vim suae potestatis indicat. Nam dictator quidem ab eo appellatur, quia dicitur, sed in nostris libris vides eum, Laeli, magistrum populi appellari. L. Video, inquit. Et Scipio: Sapienter igitur illi vete res, 1.65 Et Scipio: Est omnino, cum de illo genere rei publicae, quod maxime probo, quae sentio, dixero, accuratius mihi dicendum de commutationibus rerum publicarum, etsi minime facile eas in ea re publica futuras puto. Sed huius regiae prima et certissima est illa mutatio: Cum rex iniustus esse coepit, perit illud ilico genus, et est idem ille tyrannus, deterrimum genus et finitimum optimo; quem si optimates oppresserunt, quod ferme evenit, habet statum res publica de tribus secundarium; est enim quasi regium, id est patrium consilium populo bene consulentium principum. Sin per se populus interfecit aut eiecit tyrannum, est moderatior, quoad sentit et sapit, et sua re gesta laetatur tuerique vult per se constitutam rem publicam. Si quando aut regi iusto vim populus attulit regnove eum spoliavit aut etiam, id quod evenit saepius, optimatium sanguinem gustavit ac totam rem publicam substravit libidini suae (cave putes autem mare ullum aut flammam esse tantam, quam non facilius sit sedare quam effrenatam insolentia multitudinem), tum fit illud, quod apud Platonem est luculente dictum, si modo id exprimere Latine potuero; difficile factu est, sed conabor tamen. 1.63 Laelius. What you say is quite true. Scipio. Yes, and it is generally true in times of peace and security, for licence is possible as long as one has nothing to fear ; as, for example, on board a ship, or frequently in the case of an illness that is trivial. But just as the sailor, when the sea suddenly grows rough, and the invalid when his illness becomes severe, both implore the assistance of one man, so our people, that in times of peace and while engaged at home wield authority, threaten even their magistrates, refuse to obey them, and appeal from one to another or to the people, yet in time of war yield obedience to their rulers as to a king , for safety prevails over caprice. Indeed, in wars of more serious import our people have preferred that all the power should be granted to one man without a colleague. And this mans title shows the character of his power, for though he is commonly called "dictator" from the fact that he is "named," yet you know, Laelius, that in our books he is called "master of the people." Laelius. I do. Scipio. Therefore the men of old time acted wisely . . " 1.65 Scipio. When I have set forth my ideas in regard to the form of State which I consider the best, I shall have to take up in greater detail those changes to which States are liable, though I think it will not be at all easy for any such changes to take place in the State which I have in mind. But the first and most certain of these changes is the one that takes place in kingships : when the king begins to be unjust, that form of government is immediately at an end, and the king has become a tyrant. This is the worst sort of government, though closely related to the best. If the best men overthrow it, as usually happens, then the State is in the second of its three stages; for this form is similar to a kingship, being one in which a paternal council of leading men makes good provision for the peoples welfare. But if the people themselves have killed or driven out the tyrant, they govern rather moderately, as long as they are wise and prudent, and, delighting in their exploit, they endeavour to maintain the government they have themselves set up. But if the people ever rebel against a just king and deprive him of his kingdom, or, as happens more frequently, taste the blood of the aristocracy and subject the whole State to their own caprices (and do not dream, Laelius, that any sea or any conflagration is so powerful that it cannot be more easily subdued than an unbridled multitude enjoying unwonted power), then we have a condition which is splendidly described by Plato, if only I can reproduce his description in Latin; it is difficult, but I will attempt it." |
9. Polybius, Histories, 1.1.2, 1.1.5, 1.1.6, 1.2, 1.2.6, 1.3, 1.3.1, 1.3.2, 1.3.3, 1.3.4, 1.4, 1.4.1, 1.4.2, 1.4.3, 1.4.4, 1.4.6, 1.4.7, 1.4.8, 1.4.9, 1.4.11, 1.10, 1.11.7, 1.35, 1.63.9, 1.65.7, 1.69.4, 1.69.5, 2.4.3, 2.7.5, 2.7.6, 2.15.7, 2.16.14, 2.17.9, 2.17.10, 2.17.11, 2.17.12, 2.18.2, 2.19.3, 2.19.4, 2.21.9, 2.29.5, 2.31.7, 2.32.7, 2.32.8, 2.33.2, 2.33.3, 2.35.2, 2.35.6, 2.39, 2.56, 2.56.7, 2.56.8, 2.56.10, 2.56.11, 2.56.12, 2.56.13, 2.57, 2.58, 2.59, 2.60, 2.61, 2.62, 2.63, 3.4.1, 3.4.2, 3.4.3, 3.4.4, 3.4.5, 3.4.6, 3.4.7, 3.4.8, 3.6.4, 3.8.1-3.9.5, 3.9.8, 3.10.3, 3.10.4, 3.10.5, 3.15.5, 3.15.7, 3.15.10, 3.21.1, 3.21.3, 3.21.6, 3.30.4, 3.35.7, 3.35.8, 3.36, 3.36.1, 3.36.2, 3.36.3, 3.36.4, 3.36.5, 3.37, 3.37.6, 3.37.7, 3.37.9, 3.37.10, 3.37.11, 3.38, 3.38.2, 3.38.7, 3.38.8, 3.39.2, 3.39.3, 3.39.4, 3.39.5, 3.39.8, 3.39.9, 3.39.10, 3.39.11, 3.39.12, 3.40.1, 3.42.1, 3.47.6, 3.47.7, 3.47.8, 3.47.9, 3.48.8, 3.54.2, 3.54.3, 3.57.2, 3.57.3, 3.58, 3.58.2, 3.59, 3.59.3, 3.59.4, 3.59.7, 3.70.4, 3.78.1, 3.78.2, 3.78.5, 3.79.4, 3.105.10, 4.20.8, 4.21, 4.21.1, 4.21.3, 4.21.4, 4.40.2, 5.11.6, 5.33.2, 5.35, 5.36, 5.37, 5.101.10, 5.104, 5.106.8, 5.107.1, 5.107.2, 5.107.3, 6.4.5, 6.4.6, 6.4.7, 6.4.8, 6.4.9, 6.4.10, 6.5.5, 6.5.6, 6.7.6, 6.7.7, 6.7.8, 6.9.13, 6.43.1, 6.47.9, 6.51, 6.51.1, 6.51.2, 6.52, 6.53, 6.54, 6.56.1, 6.56.2, 6.56.3, 6.56.4, 6.56.5, 6.56.6, 6.56.7, 6.56.8, 6.56.9, 6.56.10, 6.56.11, 6.56.12, 6.56.14, 6.56.15, 6.57.2, 6.57.3, 6.57.5, 6.57.6, 6.57.7, 6.57.8, 6.57.9, 8.9.6, 8.11.3, 8.11.4, 8.11.5, 8.11.6, 8.19.9, 9.1, 9.1.2, 9.1.4, 9.1.5, 9.2, 9.2.4, 9.9.9, 9.9.10, 9.10.7, 9.10.8, 9.10.9, 9.10.10, 9.12.1, 9.37, 9.38, 10.2.8, 10.2.9, 10.2.10, 10.2.11, 10.2.12, 10.21.3, 10.27.7, 10.34, 10.35, 11.34.5, 11.34.6, 12.3.4, 12.25b.4, 12.25i.7, 12.27.1, 12.27.2, 12.27.3, 12.27.4, 12.27.5, 12.27.6, 12.28.6, 15.25, 15.26, 15.26.1, 15.26.2, 15.26.3, 15.26.4, 15.26.5, 15.26.6, 15.26.7, 15.26.8, 15.27, 15.28, 15.29, 15.30, 15.30.4, 15.30.9, 15.31, 15.32, 15.32.4, 15.33, 15.33.10, 15.34, 16.18.2, 16.28.2, 18.15.13, 20.2, 20.9.8, 21.38, 23.10.5, 27.13.1, 30.7.7, 34.1.3, 34.9.13, 34.14.1, 34.14.2, 34.14.3, 34.14.4, 34.14.5, 36.9, 36.12, 38.4.1, 38.4.2, 38.6, 38.10.8, 38.21, 38.22, 39.3, 39.4 (2nd cent. BCE - 2nd cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: • Constantinian epitomes, of Polybius, • Polybios • Polybios of Megalopolis • Polybios of Megalopolis, and Fabius Maximus-Minucius Rufus dispute • Polybios of Megalopolis, and Gauls’ sack of Rome • Polybios of Megalopolis, on Flaminius’ movements in • Polybios of Megalopolis, on dictator’s term of office • Polybios, historian, view of Alexander • Polybios, historian, view of Alexandria • Polybios, historian, view of Bactria • Polybios, historian, view of the world • Polybius • Polybius (historian) • Polybius of Megalopolis • Polybius v–vi, • Polybius, • Polybius, Histories • Polybius, History • Polybius, and contingency • Polybius, as historical theorist • Polybius, geographical ‘digression’ • Polybius, historiographical neologisms • Polybius, on Carthaginians • Polybius, on Celts • Polybius, on Gauls • Polybius, on Marcellus’ plundering of Sicily • Polybius, on Megale Hellas • Polybius, on Mummius’ sack of Corinth • Polybius, on Regulus • Polybius, on Roman funerals • Polybius, on Roman religiosity and reliability • Polybius, on Scipio • Polybius, on environmental determinism • Polybius, on mousike • Polybius, on music customs • Polybius, on singing • Polybius, on the decline of the Roman Empire • Polybius, on the spoils of Syracuse • Polybius, plundering of temples and the anger of the gods • Polybius, post-apocalyptic scenarios • Polybius, showing enemies of Rome as deserving to lose • Polybius’ lack of interest in, • alien/foreigner, in Polybius • barbarians/barbarity, Polybius on • disparagement, of Gauls by Polybius • disparagement, of Phoenicians by Polybius • ethnos/ethne, in Polybius • genos/gene/gens/genus, in Polybius • identity as hybrid and malleable, Polybius on • innate capacity as determining ethnicity, rarely suggested by Polybius • lineage and genealogy as identity marker, rare in Polybius • medicine and medical discourse, Polybius on • mockery/irony/parody, by Polybius • tuche, in Polybius Found in books: Allen and Doedens, Turmoil, Trauma and Tenacity in Early Jewish Literature (2022) 193, 195, 197, 207; Amendola, The Demades Papyrus (P.Berol. inv. 13045): A New Text with Commentary (2022) 52, 55, 345, 351; Ando, Imperial Ideology and Provincial Loyalty in the Roman Empire (2013) 64; Ayres and Ward, The Rise of the Early Christian Intellectual (2021) 27; Baumann and Liotsakis, Reading History in the Roman Empire (2022) 16, 65, 68, 69, 71, 74; Bianchetti et al., Brill’s Companion to Ancient Geography: The Inhabited World in Greek and Roman Tradition (2015) 252, 280, 281, 282, 284; Blum and Biggs, The Epic Journey in Greek and Roman Literature (2019) 218; Bowie, Essays on Ancient Greek Literature and Culture, Volume 2: Comedy, Herodotus, Hellenistic and Imperial Greek Poetry, the Novels (2023) 856; Buszard, Greek Translations of Roman Gods (2023) 7, 54; Chaniotis, Unveiling Emotions III: Arousal, Display, and Performance of Emotions in the Greek World (2021) 172, 173, 174, 175, 252, 260, 261, 269, 270, 273, 276; Chrysanthou, Plutarch's 'Parallel Lives': Narrative Technique and Moral Judgement (2018) 34, 165; Chrysanthou, Reconfiguring the Imperial Past: Narrative Patterns and Historical Interpretation in Herodian’s History of the Empire (2022) 26, 314; Cohen, The Significance of Yavneh and other Essays in Jewish Hellenism (2010) 106, 116, 118; Cosgrove, Music at Social Meals in Greek and Roman Antiquity: From the Archaic Period to the Age of Augustine (2022) 5, 113; Edmondson, Roman Dress and the Fabrics of Roman Culture (2008) 37, 38; Farrell, Juno's Aeneid: A Battle for Heroic Identity (2021) 181; Gee, Mapping the Afterlife: From Homer to Dante (2020) 73, 74; Geljon and Runia, Philo of Alexandria: On Planting: Introduction, Translation and Commentary (2019) 266; Gera, Judith (2014) 119, 244, 397; Goldhill, The Christian Invention of Time: Temporality and the Literature of Late Antiquity (2022) 138, 139, 210; Gorman, Gorman, Corrupting Luxury in Ancient Greek Literature (2014) 345, 346, 347, 350; Gruen, Ethnicity in the Ancient World - Did it matter (2020) 18, 19, 20, 21, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 67, 69, 70, 97; Gruen, Rethinking the Other in Antiquity (2011) 107, 120, 121, 123, 124, 125, 131, 142, 143; Hau, Moral History from Herodotus to Diodorus Siculus (2017) 29, 69, 70, 71, 85, 93, 137, 154, 260; Hay, Saeculum: Defining Historical Eras in Ancient Roman Thought (2023) 60; Isaac, The invention of racism in classical antiquity (2004) 82, 309, 321, 388, 411, 412; Jażdżewska and Doroszewski,Plutarch and his Contemporaries: Sharing the Roman Empire (2024) 212; Jonquière, Prayer in Josephus Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity (2007) 211; Ker and Wessels, The Values of Nighttime in Classical Antiquity: Between Dusk and Dawn (2020) 120, 121; Kingsley Monti and Rood, The Authoritative Historian: Tradition and Innovation in Ancient Historiography (2022) 315, 316, 317, 318, 319, 320, 321, 322, 324, 325, 326, 327, 328, 329, 330, 332, 333, 359, 367, 382, 383; Kirkland, Herodotus and Imperial Greek Literature: Criticism, Imitation, Reception (2022) 41, 78, 79, 91, 92; Konig and Wiater, Late Hellenistic Greek Literature in Dialogue (2022) 5, 41, 55, 56, 57, 58, 60, 62, 63, 75, 238, 265, 267, 269, 270, 271; Konig, The Folds of Olympus: Mountains in Ancient Greek and Roman Culture (2022) 214, 216; Konrad, The Challenge to the Auspices: Studies on Magisterial Power in the Middle Roman Republic (2022) 107, 110, 228, 230; Kowalzig, Singing for the Gods: Performances of Myth and Ritual in Archaic and Classical Greece (2007) 4, 5, 290, 326; König and Wiater, Late Hellenistic Greek Literature in Dialogue (2022) 5, 41, 55, 56, 57, 58, 60, 62, 63, 75, 238, 265, 267, 269, 270, 271; Langlands, Exemplary Ethics in Ancient Rome (2018) 268, 282; Lehoux et al., Lucretius: Poetry, Philosophy, Science (2013) 65; Leão and Lanzillotta, A Man of Many Interests: Plutarch on Religion, Myth, and Magic (2019) 77; Liapis and Petrides, Greek Tragedy After the Fifth Century: A Survey from ca (2019) 94; Liddel, Decrees of Fourth-Century Athens (403/2-322/1 BC): Volume 2, Political and Cultural Perspectives (2020) 197; Mcclellan, Paulinus Noster: Self and Symbols in the Letters of Paulinus of Nola (2019) 128; Mueller, Roman Religion in Valerius Maximus (2002) 70; Nasrallah, Archaeology and the Letters of Paul (2019) 143; Oksanish, Vitruvian Man: Rome Under Construction (2019) 107, 108; Price, Finkelberg and Shahar, Rome: An Empire of Many Nations: New Perspectives on Ethnic Diversity and Cultural Identity (2021) 23, 49; Richlin, Slave Theater in the Roman Republic: Plautus and Popular Comedy (2018) 56, 374; Roller, A Guide to the Geography of Pliny the Elder (2022) 254; Rutledge, Ancient Rome as a Museum: Power, Identity, and the Culture of Collecting (2012) 37, 103, 106, 197; Santangelo, Roman Frugality: Modes of Moderation from the Archaic Age to the Early Empire and Beyond (2013) 127, 211; Schwartz, 2 Maccabees (2008) 179; Stanton, Unity and Disunity in Greek and Christian Thought under the Roman Peace (2021) 71; Star, Apocalypse and Golden Age: The End of the World in Greek and Roman Thought (2021) 70; Stavrianopoulou, Shifting Social Imaginaries in the Hellenistic Period: Narrations, Practices and Images (2013) 342, 343, 344, 346, 350, 351, 352, 353, 372; Van Nuffelen, Orosius and the Rhetoric of History (2012) 138; Viglietti and Gildenhard, Divination, Prediction and the End of the Roman Republic (2020) 215; Welch, Tarpeia: Workings of a Roman Myth (2015) 68, 69; Woolf, Tales of the Barbarians: Ethnography and Empire in the Roman West (2011) 22, 63, 64; Wright, The Letter of Aristeas: 'Aristeas to Philocrates' or 'On the Translation of the Law of the Jews' (2015) 136, 360 10.2.8 ἐμοὶ δὲ δοκεῖ Πόπλιος Λυκούργῳ τῷ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων νομοθέτῃ παραπλησίαν ἐσχηκέναι φύσιν καὶ προαίρεσιν. 10.2.9 οὔτε γὰρ Λυκοῦργον ἡγητέον δεισιδαιμονοῦντα καὶ πάντα προσέχοντα τῇ Πυθίᾳ συστήσασθαι τὸ Λακεδαιμονίων πολίτευμα, οὔτε Πόπλιον ἐξ ἐνυπνίων ὁρμώμενον καὶ κληδόνων τηλικαύτην περιποιῆσαι τῇ πατρίδι δυναστείαν·, 10.2.10 ἀλλʼ ὁρῶντες ἑκάτεροι τοὺς πολλοὺς τῶν ἀνθρώπων οὔτε τὰ παράδοξα προσδεχομένους ῥᾳδίως οὔτε τοῖς δεινοῖς τολμῶντας παραβάλλεσθαι χωρὶς τῆς ἐκ τῶν θεῶν ἐλπίδος, 10.2.12 Πόπλιος δὲ παραπλησίως ἐνεργαζόμενος αἰεὶ δόξαν τοῖς πολλοῖς ὡς μετά τινος θείας ἐπιπνοίας ποιούμενος τὰς ἐπιβολάς, εὐθαρσεστέρους καὶ προθυμοτέρους κατεσκεύαζε τοὺς ὑποταττομένους πρὸς τὰ δεινὰ τῶν ἔργων. 10.21.3 καὶ γὰρ ἄτοπον τὰς μὲν τῶν πόλεων κτίσεις τοὺς συγγραφέας, καὶ πότε καὶ πῶς καὶ διὰ τίνων ἐκτίσθησαν, ἔτι δὲ τὰς διαθέσεις καὶ περιστάσεις μετʼ ἀποδείξεως ἐξαγγέλλειν, τὰς δὲ τῶν τὰ ὅλα χειρισάντων ἀνδρῶν ἀγωγὰς καὶ ζήλους παρασιωπᾶν, καὶ ταῦτα τῆς χρείας μεγάλην ἐχούσης τὴν διαφοράν·, 10.27.7 ὑπὸ δὲ ταύτην ἐστὶ βασίλεια, περὶ ὧν καὶ τὸ λέγειν κατὰ μέρος καὶ τὸ παρασιωπᾶν ἔχει τινʼ ἀπορίαν·, 10.34 κατὰ δὲ τὴν Ἰβηρίαν Πόπλιος ὁ τῶν Ῥωμαίων στρατηγός, ποιούμενος τὴν παραχειμασίαν ἐν Ταρράκωνι, καθάπερ ἐν τοῖς πρὸ τούτων δεδηλώκαμεν, πρῶτον μὲν τοὺς Ἴβηρας εἰς τὴν αὑτῶν φιλίαν καὶ πίστιν ἐνεδήσατο διὰ τῆς τῶν ὁμήρων ἑκάστοις ἀποδόσεως, διόπερ ἠξίου τὴν γυναῖκα καὶ τὰ τέκνα κομίσασθαι, καὶ κριθεὶς φίλος ἐπανελθεῖν εἰς τὴν οἰκείαν, ἵνα λαβὼν ἀφορμὴν εὔλογον ἐναποδείξηται τὴν αὑτοῦ καὶ τῶν φίλων εὔνοιαν κατὰ δύναμιν εἴς τε τὸν Πόπλιον αὐτὸν καὶ τὰ Ῥωμαίων πράγματα. Ἐδεκὼν μὲν οὖν τοιαῦτα λαβὼν συναγωνιστὴν ἐκ ταὐτομάτου πρὸς τοῦτο τὸ μέρος Ἐδεκῶνα τὸν Ἐδετανῶν δυνάστην, ὃς ἅμα τῷ προσπεσεῖν τὴν Καρχηδόνος ἅλωσιν καὶ γενέσθαι κύριον τῆς γυναικὸς αὐτοῦ καὶ τῶν υἱῶν τὸν Πόπλιον, εὐθέως συλλογισάμενος τὴν ἐσομένην τῶν Ἰβήρων μεταβολὴν ἀρχηγὸς ἐβουλήθη γενέσθαι τῆς αὐτῆς ὁρμῆς, μάλιστα πεπεισμένος οὕτως τὴν γυναῖκα καὶ τὰ τέκνα κομιεῖσθαι καὶ δόξειν οὐ κατʼ ἀνάγκην, ἀλλὰ κατὰ πρόθεσιν αἱρεῖσθαι τὰ Ῥωμαίων· ἃ καὶ συνέβη γενέσθαι. τῶν γὰρ δυνάμεων ἄρτι διαφειμένων εἰς τὴν παραχειμασίαν παρῆν εἰς τὴν Ταρράκωνα μετὰ τῶν οἰκείων καὶ φίλων. ἐλθὼν δʼ εἰς λόγους τῷ Ποπλίῳ ταύτην ἔφη τοῖς θεοῖς μεγίστην χάριν ἔχειν, ὅτι πρῶτος τῶν κατὰ τὴν χώραν δυναστῶν ἥκει πρὸς αὐτόν. τοὺς μὲν γὰρ ἄλλους ἀκμὴν διαπέμπεσθαι καὶ βλέπειν πρὸς Καρχηδονίους, τὰς δὲ χεῖρας ἐκτείνειν Ῥωμαίοις· αὐτὸς δὲ παραγεγονέναι διδοὺς οὐ μόνον αὑτόν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς φίλους καὶ συγγενεῖς εἰς τὴν Ῥωμαίων πίστιν. διόπερ ἂν νομισθῇ παρʼ αὐτῷ φίλος καὶ σύμμαχος, μεγάλην μὲν αὐτῷ πρὸς τὸ παρὸν ἔφη, μεγάλην δʼ εἰς τὸ μέλλον παρέξεσθαι χρείαν. παραυτίκα μὲν γὰρ θεασαμένους τοὺς Ἴβηρας πρός τε τὴν φιλίαν αὑτὸν προσδεδεγμένον καὶ τετευχότα τῶν ἀξιουμένων πάντας ἐπὶ τὸ παραπλήσιον ἥξειν, σπουδάζοντας κομίσασθαι τοὺς ἀναγκαίους καὶ τυχεῖν τῆς Ῥωμαίων συμμαχίας· εἰς δὲ τὸν μετὰ ταῦτα χρόνον προκαταληφθέντας τῇ τοιαύτῃ τιμῇ καὶ φιλανθρωπίᾳ συναγωνιστὰς ἀπροφασίστους ὑπάρξειν αὐτῷ πρὸς τὰ κατάλοιπα τῶν ἔργων. 10.35 διαλεχθεὶς ἐπέσχεν· ὁ δὲ Πόπλιος, καὶ πάλαι πρὸς τοῦτο τὸ μέρος ἕτοιμος ὢν καὶ συλλελογισμένος παραπλήσια τοῖς ὑπὸ τοῦ Ἐδεκῶνος εἰρημένοις, τὴν γυναῖκα καὶ τὰ τέκνα παρέδωκεν αὐτῷ καὶ τὴν φιλίαν συνέθετο. πρὸς δὲ τούτοις παρὰ τὴν συνουσίαν ποικίλως ψυχαγωγήσας τὸν Ἴβηρα καὶ πᾶσι τοῖς αὐτοῦ μεγάλας εἰς τὸ μέλλον ἐλπίδας ὑπογράψας, οὕτως εἰς τὴν οἰκείαν ἐξαπέστειλε. τούτου τοῦ πράγματος ταχέως περιβοήτου γενομένου πάντας συνέβη τοὺς ἐντὸς Ἴβηρος ποταμοῦ κατοικοῦντας οἷον ἀπὸ μιᾶς ὁρμῆς ἑλέσθαι τὰ Ῥωμαίων, ὅσοι μὴ πρότερον αὐτῶν ὑπῆρχον φίλοι. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν καλῶς κατὰ νοῦν ἐχώρει τῷ Ποπλίῳ· μετὰ δὲ τὸν τούτων χωρισμὸν τὰς μὲν ναυτικὰς δυνάμεις διέλυσε, θεωρῶν οὐδὲν ἀντίπαλον ὑπάρχον κατὰ θάλατταν, ἐκ δὲ τῶν ναυτῶν ἐκλέξας τοὺς ἐπιτηδείους ἐπὶ τὰς σημαίας ἐμέρισε. καὶ συνηύξησε τοιούτῳ τρόπῳ τὰς πεζικὰς δυνάμεις. Ἀνδοβάλης δὲ καὶ Μανδόνιος, μέγιστοι μὲν ὄντες δυνάσται τότε τῶν κατʼ Ἰβηρίαν, ἀληθινώτατοι δὲ Καρχηδονίων φίλοι δοξαζόμενοι, πάλαι μὲν ὑπούλως διέκειντο καὶ καιρὸν ἐπετήρουν, ἐξ ὅτου προσποιηθέντες οἱ περὶ τὸν Ἀσδρούβαν ἀπιστεῖν αὐτοῖς ᾔτησαν χρημάτων τε πλῆθος καὶ τὰς γυναῖκας καὶ τὰς θυγατέρας εἰς ὁμηρείαν, καθάπερ ἐν τοῖς πρὸ τούτων ἐδηλώσαμεν· τότε δὲ νομίσαντες ἔχειν εὐφυῆ καιρόν, ἀναλαβόντες τὰς ἑαυτῶν δυνάμεις ἐκ τῆς Καρχηδονίων παρεμβολῆς νυκτὸς ἀπεχώρησαν εἴς τινας ἐρυμνοὺς τόπους καὶ δυναμένους αὐτοῖς τὴν ἀσφάλειαν παρασκευάζειν. οὗ γενομένου καὶ τῶν ἄλλων Ἰβήρων συνέβη τοὺς πλείστους ἀπολιπεῖν Ἀσδρούβαν, πάλαι μὲν βαρυνομένους ὑπὸ τῆς τῶν Καρχηδονίων ἀγερωχίας, τότε δὲ πρῶτον καιρὸν λαβόντας εἰς τὸ φανερὰν ποιῆσαι τὴν αὑτῶν προαίρεσιν. 11.34.5 πλήθη γὰρ οὐκ ὀλίγα παρεῖναι τῶν Νομάδων, διʼ ὧν κινδυνεύειν μὲν ἀμφοτέρους, ἐκβαρβαρωθήσεσθαι δὲ τὴν χώραν ὁμολογουμένως, ἐὰν ἐκείνους προσδέχωνται. 11.34.6 ταῦτα δʼ εἰπὼν ἐξαπέστειλε τὸν Τηλέαν πρὸς τὸν Ἀντίοχον. ... ἦν δέ τις Καμπανὸς ηὐτομοληκὼς παρὰ τῶν Ῥωμαίων δοῦλος, ἔχων σωματικὴν δύναμιν καὶ τόλμαν ἐν τοῖς πολεμικοῖς παράβολον, ὄνομα Σπένδιος. οὗτος εὐλαβούμενος μὴ παραγενόμενος αὐτὸν ὁ δεσπότης κομίσηται, καὶ κατὰ τοὺς Ῥωμαίων νόμους αἰκισθεὶς διαφθαρῇ, πᾶν ἐτόλμα καὶ λέγειν καὶ πράττειν, σπουδάζων διακόψαι τὰς διαλύσεις τὰς πρὸς Καρχηδονίους. Λυκοῦργος μὲν αἰεὶ προσλαμβανόμενος ταῖς ἰδίαις ἐπιβολαῖς τὴν ἐκ τῆς Πυθίας φήμην εὐπαραδεκτοτέρας καὶ πιστοτέρας ἐποίει τὰς ἰδίας ἐπινοίας, ἐπεὶ δὲ πλεονάκις ἀπομάττων τῇ χλαμύδι κατεκράτησε τῆς ἐπιφορᾶς, βαστάσας τὸ παιδίον "3Λάβετε"3 ἔφη "3τοῦτον, ὃν ὁ πατὴρ ἀποθνήσκων εἰς μὲν τὰς ἀγκάλας ἔδωκε ταύτῃ"3 δείξας τὴν ἀδελφὴν "3παρακατέθετο δʼ εἰς τὴν ὑμετέραν, ὦ ἄνδρες Μακεδόνες, πίστιν. οὐ μὴν ἀλλʼ οἱ μὲν Ῥωμαῖοι διδαχθέντες ὑπὸ τῶν πραγμάτων καὶ βαλόμενοι χάρακα πάλιν ἕνα πάντες ἐστρατοπέδευσαν ὁμόσε καὶ λοιπὸν ἤδη Φαβίῳ προσεῖχον τὸν νοῦν καὶ τοῖς ὑπὸ τούτου παραγγελλομένοις. ἴσως γὰρ δή τινες ἐπιζητήσουσι πῶς πεποιημένοι τὸν πλεῖστον λόγον ὑπὲρ τῶν κατὰ Λιβύην καὶ κατʼ Ἰβηρίαν τόπων οὔτε περὶ τοῦ καθʼ Ἡρακλέους στήλας στόματος οὐδὲν ἐπὶ πλεῖον εἰρήκαμεν οὔτε περὶ τῆς ἔξω θαλάττης καὶ τῶν ἐν ταύτῃ συμβαινόντων ἰδιωμάτων, οὐδὲ μὴν περὶ τῶν Βρεττανικῶν νήσων καὶ τῆς τοῦ καττιτέρου κατασκευῆς, ἔτι δὲ τῶν ἀργυρείων καὶ χρυσείων τῶν κατʼ αὐτὴν Ἰβηρίαν, ὑπὲρ ὧν οἱ συγγραφεῖς ἀμφισβητοῦντες πρὸς ἀλλήλους τὸν πλεῖστον διατίθενται λόγον. καὶ συλλήβδην πᾶν ἐμηχανήσαντο, σπεύδοντες τὸ τῆς ψυχῆς ἀτέραμνον διὰ τῆς τῶν ἐθισμῶν κατασκευῆς ἐξημεροῦν καὶ πραΰνειν. ἐκ δὲ τῆς τούτου πάλιν ὕβρεως καὶ παρανομίας ἀποπληροῦται σὺν χρόνοις ὀχλοκρατία. ὁ δὲ πραγματικὸς τρόπος ἐνεκρίθη πρῶτον μὲν διὰ τὸ καινοποιεῖσθαι συνεχῶς καὶ καινῆς ἐξηγήσεως δεῖσθαι τῷ μὴ συμβατὸν εἶναι τοῖς ἀρχαίοις τὸ τὰς ἐπιγινομένας πράξεις ἡμῖν ἐξαγγεῖλαι, 9.2 Since genealogies, myths, the planting of colonies, the foundations of cities and their ties of kinship have been recounted by many writers and in many different styles,an author who undertakes at the present day to deal with these matters must either represent the work of others as being his own, a most disgraceful proceeding, or if he refuses to do this, must manifestly toil to no purpose, being constrained to avow that the matters on which he writes and to which he devotes his attention have been adequately narrated and handed down to posterity by previous authors. So omitting these things for the above and various other reasons, Idecided on writing a history of actual events; firstly, because there is always some novelty to them which demands novel treatment âx80x94 since it was not in the power of the ancients to narrate events subsequent to their own time âx80x94 and secondly, owing to the great practical utility of such a history, both formerly and especially at the present day, when the progress of the arts and sciences has been so rapid, that those who study history are, we may almost say, provided with a method for dealing with any contingency that may arise.My aim, therefore, being not so much to entertain readers as to benefit those who pay careful attention, Idisregarded other matters and was led to write this kind of history.The best testimony to the truth of what Isay will be that of those who study this work with due application. II.Affairs of Italy Siege of Capua, 9.9.9 It is not for the purpose of extolling the Romans or the Carthaginians that Ihave offered these remarks âx80x94 Ihave often had occasion to bestow praise on both peoples âx80x94 but rather for the sake of the leaders of both these states, and of all, no matter where, who shall be charged with the conduct of public affairs, 9.10.7 For in no case is one who contemplates such works of art moved so much by admiration of the good fortune of those who have possessed themselves of the property of others, as by pity as well as envy for the original owners. 9.10.8 And when opportunities become ever more frequent, and the victor collects around him all the treasures of other peoples, and these treasures may be almost said to invite those who were robbed of them to come and inspect them, things are twice as bad. 9.10.9 For now spectators no longer pity their neighbours, but themselves, as they recall to mind their own calamities. 9.12.1 The accidents attendant on military projects require much circumspection, but success is in every case possible if the steps we take to carry out our plan are soundly reasoned out. 9.37 "Let what Ihave said on this head suffice, and let those who are disposed to be cautious pronounce my words to have no bearing on the present situation.For in their anxiety to get the better of Philip and humiliate the Macedonians, they have without knowing it invoked such a cloud from the west as may, perhaps, at first only cast its shadow on Macedonia, but in time will be the cause of great evil to all Greece.Iwill now revert to what my adversaries themselves speak of as the main question. And this is that if matters are now in the same state as when you made an alliance with them, you should decide to maintain your original attitude, for that is a matter of principle, but if the situation has radically changed, you are justified now in discussing the requests made to you afresh.Iask you, therefore, Cleonicus and Chlaeneas, what allies had you when you first invited the Spartans to act with you? Had you not the whole of Greece?But who make common cause with you at present or what kind of alliance do you invite them to enter?Is it not an alliance with barbarians? Far from being similar, the circumstances are now the reverse of what they formerly were.Then your rivals in the struggle for supremacy and renown were the Achaeans and Macedonians, peoples of your own race, and Philip was their commander. But now Greece is threatened with a war against men of a foreign race who intend to enslave her,men whom you fancy you are calling in against Philip, but are calling in really against yourselves and the whole of Greece.For just as those who when imperilled by war introduce into their cities garrisons stronger than their own forces for the sake of safety, repel indeed all danger from the enemy but at the same time subject themselves to the authority of their friends, so do the Aetolians contemplate doing. 9.38 "All Greeks, therefore, should foresee the approaching storm and especially the Lacedaemonians.For why do you think it was, men of Sparta, that your ancestors, at the time when Xerxes sent you an envoy demanding water and earth, thrust the stranger into the well and heaped earth upon him, and bade him to announce to Xerxes that he had received what was demanded, water and earth?Or why did Leonidas and his men march forth of their own will to meet certain death?Surely it was to show that they were risking their lives not for their own freedom alone, but for that of the other Greeks.It very well becomes you, the descendants of such men, to make an alliance now with barbarians, to take the field with them and make war on the Epirots, Achaeans, Acarians, Boeotians, and Thessalians, in fact with almost all the Greeks except the Aetolians!They indeed are accustomed to act so and to think nothing disgraceful if only something is to be gained by it, but it is not so with you.And what feats do you expect they will accomplish when they have gained the alliance of Rome,the people who, when you were reinforced by the help of the Illyrians, attempted by sea to surprise and treacherously take Pylus and on land laid siege to Cleitor and sold the citizens of Cynaetha into slavery?Formerly, as Ialready said, they made a treaty with Antigonus for the destruction of the Achaean and Acarian Leagues, and now they have made one with the Romans against the whole of Greece. " 10.2.8 To me it seems that the character and principles of Scipio much resembled those of Lycurgus, the Lacedaemonian legislator. 10.2.9 For neither must we suppose that Lycurgus drew up the constitution of Sparta under the influence of superstition and solely prompted by the Pythia, nor that Scipio won such an empire )" onMouseOut="nd();"for his country by following the suggestion of dreams and omens. 10.2.10 But since both of them saw that most men neither readily accept anything unfamiliar to them, nor venture on great risks without the hope of divine help, Lycurgus made his own scheme more acceptable and more easily believed in by invoking the oracles of the Pythia in support of projects due to himself, 10.2.12 while Scipio similarly made the men under his command more sanguine and more ready to face perilous enterprises by instilling into them the belief that his projects were divinely inspired. 10.21.3 It is indeed a strange thing that authors should narrate circumstantially the foundations of cities, telling us when, how, and by whom they were founded, and detailing the precise conditions and difficulties of the undertaking, while they pass over in silence the previous training and the objects of the men who directed the whole matter, though such information is more profitable. 10.27.7 Beneath this stands the palace, regarding which Iam in doubt whether Ishould go into details or keep silence. " 10.34 In Spain Publius Scipio, the Roman commander, who, as Iabove stated, was wintering at Tarraco, first of all secured the confidence and friendship of the Iberians by the restoration of the hostages to their respective homes,He therefore begged that his wife and children might be restored to him and that before returning to his home he should be pronounced to be a friend, so that he might have a plausible pretext for displaying by every means in his power the goodwill that he himself and his friends bore to Scipio and the Roman cause.availing himself in the matter of the assistance voluntarily proffered by Edeco the prince of the Edetani, who on receiving the news of the capture of NewCarthage and learning that his wife and sons were in Scipios power, at once anticipated the change that would take place in the attitude of the Iberians and desired to be leader of this movement, chiefly owing to his conviction that by this reason he would recover the part of the Romans not under compulsion but deliberately. And this proved to be so.For just after the troops had been dispersed to their winter quarters he appeared at Tarraco with his relatives and friends.Seeking an interview with Scipio he said he gave thanks to Heaven that he was the first of the Spanish princes to come to him.The others, he said, were still communicating with Carthage and looking to that quarter, while at the same time stretching out their hands to the Romans, but he himself had come in and put not only his own person but his friends and relatives at the mercy of the Romans.So, if Scipio would regard him as a friend and ally, he would be of the greatest service to him both at present and in the future.For the Iberians at once, upon seeing that he had been received into Scipios friendship and that his requests had been granted, would all come with the same object, desirous of recovering their relatives and securing the alliance of Rome,and their affections would be so much engaged for the future by such honour and kindness that they would unreservedly co-operate with Scipio in the rest of his operations.", 10.35 Edeco after speaking somewhat in these terms ended his discourse, and Scipio, who had been previously disposed to take such a course, and whose views corresponded with those expressed by Edeco, returned his wife and children and made him his friend.And not only this, but he captivated the Spaniard by diverse means during the time they spent together, and holding out high hopes of future advantage to all those with him, he sent them back to their home.The matter was soon bruited abroad, and all the Iberians on the side of the Ebro who had not previously been friendly to the Romans now as with one consent embraced their cause.These matters, then, were proceeding as well as Scipio could wish,and after the departure of the Iberians he broke up his navy, as no enemy was visible at sea, and selecting the most capable men from the crews distributed them among the maniples and thus increased his land forces.Andobales and Mandonius were at this time two of the greatest princes in Spain and were supposed to be the most trusty adherents of Carthage, but they had long been disaffected and were watching for an opportunity of revolt, ever since Hasdrubal, as Iabove stated, on the pretext that he mistrusted them, had demanded from them the payment of a large sum of money and the surrender of their wives and daughters as hostages.Thinking that the present time was favourable, they left the Carthaginian camp with all their forces by night and withdrew to a strong position where they would be in safety.Upon this most of the other Iberians also deserted Hasdrubal. They had long been offended by the arrogance of the Carthaginians, but this was the first opportunity they had of manifesting their inclinations. 11.34.5 for considerable hordes of Nomads were approaching, and this was not only a grave danger to both of them, but if they consented to admit them, the country would certainly relapse into barbarism. 11.34.6 After speaking thus he dispatched Teleas to Antiochus. ... |
10. Septuagint, 3 Maccabees, 1.2-1.3 (2nd cent. BCE - 2nd cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: • Polybius Found in books: Gera, Judith (2014) 411; Wright, The Letter of Aristeas: 'Aristeas to Philocrates' or 'On the Translation of the Law of the Jews' (2015) 136 1.2 But a certain Theodotus, determined to carry out the plot he had devised, took with him the best of the Ptolemaic arms that had been previously issued to him, and crossed over by night to the tent of Ptolemy, intending single-handed to kill him and thereby end the war. 1.3 But Dositheus, known as the son of Drimylus, a Jew by birth who later changed his religion and apostatized from the ancestral traditions, had led the king away and arranged that a certain insignificant man should sleep in the tent; and so it turned out that this man incurred the vengeance meant for the king. |
11. Septuagint, 2 Maccabees, 2.27, 3.3, 4.7, 4.13, 5.4, 5.21, 5.24, 8.9, 8.11, 8.14, 8.29, 8.34, 8.36 (2nd cent. BCE - 2nd cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: • Polybius Found in books: Honigman, Tales of High Priests and Taxes: The Books of the Maccabees and the Judean Rebellion Against Antiochos IV (2014) 12, 70, 89, 143, 312, 489; Schwartz, 2 Maccabees (2008) 67, 179, 228, 229, 355, 468, 473, 474, 535 " 2.27 just as it is not easy for one who prepares a banquet and seeks the benefit of others. However, to secure the gratitude of many we will gladly endure the uncomfortable toil,", " 3.3 o that even Seleucus, the king of Asia, defrayed from his own revenues all the expenses connected with the service of the sacrifices.", " 4.7 When Seleucus died and Antiochus who was called Epiphanes succeeded to the kingdom, Jason the brother of Onias obtained the high priesthood by corruption,", " 4.13 There was such an extreme of Hellenization and increase in the adoption of foreign ways because of the surpassing wickedness of Jason, who was ungodly and no high priest,", 5.4 Therefore all men prayed that the apparition might prove to have been a good omen.", " 5.21 So Antiochus carried off eighteen hundred talents from the temple, and hurried away to Antioch, thinking in his arrogance that he could sail on the land and walk on the sea, because his mind was elated.", " 5.24 Antiochus sent Apollonius, the captain of the Mysians, with an army of twenty-two thousand, and commanded him to slay all the grown men and to sell the women and boys as slaves.", " 8.9 And Ptolemy promptly appointed Nicanor the son of Patroclus, one of the kings chief friends, and sent him, in command of no fewer than twenty thousand Gentiles of all nations, to wipe out the whole race of Judea. He associated with him Gorgias, a general and a man of experience in military service.", " 8.11 And he immediately sent to the cities on the seacoast, inviting them to buy Jewish slaves and promising to hand over ninety slaves for a talent, not expecting the judgment from the Almighty that was about to overtake him.", " 8.14 Others sold all their remaining property, and at the same time besought the Lord to rescue those who had been sold by the ungodly Nicanor before he ever met them,", " 8.29 When they had done this, they made common supplication and besought the merciful Lord to be wholly reconciled with his servants.", " 8.34 The thrice-accursed Nicanor, who had brought the thousand merchants to buy the Jews,", " 8.36 Thus he who had undertaken to secure tribute for the Romans by the capture of the people of Jerusalem proclaimed that the Jews had a Defender, and that therefore the Jews were invulnerable, because they followed the laws ordained by him." |
12. Diodorus Siculus, Historical Library, 1.1.1 ... Diodorus Siculus@Historical Library (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: • Polybius • Polybius, • disparagement, of Phoenicians by Polybius • innate capacity as determining ethnicity, rarely suggested by Polybius Found in books: Gorman, Gorman, Corrupting Luxury in Ancient Greek Literature (2014) 424; Gruen, Ethnicity in the Ancient World - Did it matter (2020) 61; Gruen, Rethinking the Other in Antiquity (2011) 121; Hau, Moral History from Herodotus to Diodorus Siculus (2017) 102, 116; Konig and Wiater, Late Hellenistic Greek Literature in Dialogue (2022) 111, 238; König and Wiater, Late Hellenistic Greek Literature in Dialogue (2022) 111, 238; Liddel, Decrees of Fourth-Century Athens (403/2-322/1 BC): Volume 2, Political and Cultural Perspectives (2020) 197 1.4.4 For since the city of our origin was Agyrium in Sicily, and by reason of our contact with the Romans in that island we had gained a wide acquaintance with their language, we have acquired an accurate knowledge of all the events connected with this empire from the records which have been carefully preserved among them over a long period of time. 5.35.4 Now the natives were ignorant of the use of the silver, and the Phoenicians, as they pursued their commercial enterprises and learned of what had taken place, purchased the silver in exchange for other wares of little if any worth. And this was the reason why the Phoenicians, as they transported this silver to Greece and Asia and to all other peoples, acquired great wealth. So far indeed did the merchants go in their greed that, in case their boats were fully laden and there still remained a great amount of silver, they would hammer the lead off the anchors and have the silver perform the service of the lead. And the result was that the Phoenicians, as in the course of many years they prospered greatly, thanks to commerce of this kind, sent forth many colonies, some to Sicily and its neighbouring islands, and others to Libya, Sardinia, and Iberia. 18.10.4 When this decree had been ratified more promptly than was wise, those of the Greeks who were superior in understanding said that the Athenian people had counselled well for glory but had missed what was expedient; for they had left the mark before the proper time and, with no necessity compelling them, were venturing to meet forces that were great and undefeated, and moreover, although they enjoyed a reputation for excelling in judgement, they had learned nothing even from the well-known misfortunes to Thebans. 18.10.5 Nevertheless, as the ambassadors made the circuit of the cities and roused them for war with their accustomed eloquence, most of the Greeks joined the alliance, some by national groups and some by cities. |
13. Dionysius of Halycarnassus, Roman Antiquities, 1.1.1, 1.2.1, 1.3.3, 1.5.1, 1.8.2, 1.8.4, 2.3.5, 2.18.1 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: • Polybius • Polybius, government, analysis of Found in books: Bianchetti et al., Brill’s Companion to Ancient Geography: The Inhabited World in Greek and Roman Tradition (2015) 224; Gorman, Gorman, Corrupting Luxury in Ancient Greek Literature (2014) 369; Jonge and Hunter, Dionysius of Halicarnassus and Augustan Rome. Rhetoric, Criticism and Historiography (2019) 195, 205; Kirkland, Herodotus and Imperial Greek Literature: Criticism, Imitation, Reception (2022) 78, 79, 80, 91, 92; Konig and Wiater, Late Hellenistic Greek Literature in Dialogue (2022) 238; König and Wiater, Late Hellenistic Greek Literature in Dialogue (2022) 238; Scott, An Age of Iron and Rust: Cassius Dio and the History of His Time (2023) 51 1.1.1 Although it is much against my will to indulge in the explanatory statements usually given in the prefaces to histories, yet Iam obliged to prefix to this work some remarks concerning myself. In doing this it is neither my intention to dwell too long on my own praise, which Iknow would be distasteful to the reader, nor haveI the purpose of censuring other historians, as Anaximenes and Theopompus did in the prefaces to their histories, but Ishall only show the reasons that induced me to undertake this work and give an accounting of the sources from which Igained the knowledge of the things that Iam going to relate. <, 1.2.1 That Ihave indeed made choice of a subject noble, lofty and useful to many will not, Ithink, require any lengthy argument, at least for those who are not utterly unacquainted with universal history. For if anyone turns his attention to the successive supremacies both of cities and of nations, as accounts of them have been handed down from times past, and then, surveying them severally and comparing them together, wishes to determine which of them obtained the widest dominion and both in peace and war performed the most brilliant achievements, he will find that the supremacy of the Romans has far surpassed all those that are recorded from earlier times, not only in the extent of its dominion and in the splendor of its achievements âx80x94 which no account has as yet worthily celebrated âx80x94 but also in the length of time during which it has endured down to our day. <, 1.3.3 But Rome rules every country that is not inaccessible or uninhabited, and she is mistress of every sea, not only of that which lies inside the Pillars of Hercules but also of the Ocean, except that part of it which is not navigable; she is the first and the only State recorded in all time that ever made the risings and the settings of the sun the boundaries of her dominion. Nor has her supremacy been of short duration, but more lasting than that of any other commonwealth or kingdom. <, 1.5.1 In order, therefore, to remove these erroneous impressions, as Ihave called them, from the minds of many and to substitute true ones in their room, Ishall in this Book show who the founders of the city were, at what periods the various groups came together and through what turns of fortune they left their native countries. <, 1.8.2 and Ibring the narrative down to the beginning of the First Punic War, which fell in the third year of the onehundred and twenty-eighth Olympiad. Irelate all the foreign wars that the city waged during that period and all the internal seditions with which she was agitated, showing from what causes they sprang and by what methods and by what arguments they were brought to an end. Igive an account also of all the forms of government Rome used, both during the monarchy and after its overthrow, and show what was the character of each. Idescribe the best customs and the most remarkable laws; and, in short, Ishow the whole life of the ancient Romans. <, 1.8.4 Such things, therefore, will be the subjects of my history and such will be its form. I,the author, am dionysius of halycarnassus, the son of Alexander. And at this point Ibegin. 2.3.5 Those who practise warlike exercises and at the same time are masters of their passions are the greatest ornaments to their country, and these are the men who provide both the commonwealth with impregnable walls and themselves in their private lives with safe refuges; but men of bravery, justice and the other virtues are the result of the form of government when this has been established wisely, and, on the other hand, men who are cowardly, rapacious and the slaves of base passions are the product of evil institutions. <, " 2.18.1 It is not only these institutions of Romulus that Iadmire, but also those which Iam going to relate. He understood that the good government of cities was due to certain causes which all statesmen prate of but few succeed in making effective: first, the favour of the gods, the enjoyment of which gives success to mens every enterprise; next, moderation and justice, as a result of which the citizens, being less disposed to injure one another, are more harmonious, and make honour, rather than the most shameful pleasures, the measure of their happiness; and, lastly, bravery in war, which renders the other virtues also useful to their possessors. <" |
14. Dionysius of Halycarnassus, On Thucydides, 9 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: • Polybius Found in books: Chrysanthou, Reconfiguring the Imperial Past: Narrative Patterns and Historical Interpretation in Herodian’s History of the Empire (2022) 314; Edelmann-Singer et al., Sceptic and Believer in Ancient Mediterranean Religions (2020) 188 NA> |
15. Dionysius of Halycarnassus, Letter To Pompeius Geminus, 3.14 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: • Polybius Found in books: Chrysanthou, Reconfiguring the Imperial Past: Narrative Patterns and Historical Interpretation in Herodian’s History of the Empire (2022) 314; Kirkland, Herodotus and Imperial Greek Literature: Criticism, Imitation, Reception (2022) 91 NA> |
16. Horace, Letters, 2.1 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: • Polybius Found in books: Konig and Wiater, Late Hellenistic Greek Literature in Dialogue (2022) 358; König and Wiater, Late Hellenistic Greek Literature in Dialogue (2022) 358 2.1 EPISTLE I – ON LITERATURE – TO AUGUSTUS Caesar, I would sin against the public good if I Wasted your time with tedious chatter, since you Bear the weight of such great affairs, guarding ItalyWith armies, raising its morals, reforming its laws. Romulus, Father Liber, and Pollux and Castor, Were welcomed to the gods’ temples after great deeds, But while they still cared for earth, and human kind Resolved fierce wars, allocated land, founded cities, They bemoaned the fact that the support they received Failed to reflect their hopes or merit. Hercules crushed The deadly Hydra, was fated to toil at killing fabled Monsters, but found Envy only tamed by death at last. He will dazzle with his brilliance, who eclipses talents Lesser than his own: yet be loved when it’s extinguished. We though will load you while here with timely honours, Set up altars, to swear our oaths at, in your name, Acknowledging none such has risen or will arise. Yet this nation of yours, so wise and right in this, In preferring you above Greek, or our own, leaders, Judges everything else by wholly different rules And means, despising and hating whatever it has Not itself seen vanish from earth, and fulfil its time: It so venerates ancient things that the Twelve TablesForbidding sin the Decemvirs ratified, mutual Treaties our kings made with Gabii, or tough Sabines, The Pontiffs’ books, the musty scrolls of the seers, It insists the Muses proclaimed on the Alban Mount! If, because each of the oldest works of the Greeks Is still the best, we must weigh our Roman writers On the same scales, that doesn’t require many words: Then there’d be no stone in an olive, shell on a nut: We’ve achieved fortune’s crown, we paint, make music, We wrestle, more skilfully than the oily Achaeans.Yet this error, this mild insanity, has certain Merits, consider this: the mind of a poet Is seldom avaricious: he loves verse, that’s his bent: At fires, disasters, runaway slaves: he smiles: He never plots to defraud his business partner, Or some young ward: he lives on pulse vegetables, And coarse bread: a poor and reluctant soldier he still Serves the State, if you grant small things may serve great ends. The poet moulds the lisping, tender lips of childhood, Turning the ear even then from coarse expression, Quickly shaping thought with his kindly precepts, Tempering envy, and cruelty, and anger. He tells of good deeds, instructs the rising age Through famous precedents, comforts the poor and ill. How would innocent boys, unmarried girls, have learnt Their hymns, if the Muse hadn’t granted them a bard? Their choir asks for help, and feels the divine presence, Calls for rain from heaven, taught by his winning prayer, Averts disease, dispels the threatened danger, Gains the gift of peace, and a year of rich harvests. By poetry gods above are soothed, spirits below. The farmers of old, those tough men blessed with little, After harvesting their crops, with their faithful wives And slaves, their fellow-workers, comforted body And mind, that bears all hardship for a hoped-for end, By propitiating Earth with a pig, SilvanusWith milk, the Genius who knows life brevity With flowers and wine. So Fescennine licence appeared, Whereby rustic abuse poured out in verse-exchanges, Freedom of speech had its place in the yearly cycle, In fond play, till its jests becoming fiercer, turned To open rage, and, fearless in their threats, ran through Decent houses. Those bitten by its teeth were pained: Even those who never felt its touch were drawn to Make common cause: and at last a law was passed, Declaring the punishment for portraying any man In malicious verse: all changed their tune, and were led, By fear of the cudgel, back to sweet and gracious speech.Captive Greece captured, in turn, her uncivilised Conquerors, and brought the arts to rustic Latium. So coarse Saturnian metres faded, and good taste Banished venom: though traces of our rural Past remained for many a year, and still remain. Not till later did Roman thought turn to Greek models, And in the calm after the Punic Wars began to ask What Sophocles, Thespis, Aeschylus might offer. Romans experimented, seeing if they could rework Such things effectively, noble and quick by nature, They pleased: happily bold, with tragic spirit enough, Yet novices, thinking it shameful, fearing, to revise. Some think that Comedy, making use of daily life, Needs little sweat, but in fact it’s more onerous, Less forgiving. Look at how badly Plautus handles A youthful lover’s part, or a tight-fisted father, Or treacherous pimp, what a Dossenus he makes, Sly villain, amongst his gluttonous parasites, How slipshod he is in sliding about the stage. Oh, he’s keen to fill his pockets, and after that Cares little if it fails, or stands on its own two feet. A cold audience deflates, a warm one inspires Those whom Fame’s airy chariot bears to the light: So slight, so small a thing it is, shatters and restores Minds that crave praise. Farewell to the comic theatre, If winning the palm makes me rich, its denial poor.often even the brave poet is frightened and routed, When those less in worth and rank, but greater in number, Stupid illiterates always ready for a fight If the knights challenge them, shout for bears or boxing Right in the midst of the play: it’s that the rabble love. Nowadays even the knight’s interest has wholly passed From the ear to the empty delights of the roaming eye. The curtain’s drawn back (lowered) for four hours or more, While squads of infantry, troops of horse, sweep by: Beaten kings are dragged past, hands bound behind them, Chariots, carriages, wagons and ships hurry along, Burdens of captured ivory, Corinthian bronze. If Democritus were still here on earth, he’d smile, Watching the crowd, more than the play itself, As presenting a spectacle more worth seeing, Than some hybrid creature, the camelopard, Or a white elephant, catching their attention. As for the authors he’d think they were telling their tales To a deaf donkey. What voices could ever prevail And drown the din with which our theatres echo? You’d think the Garganian woods or Tuscan Sea roared: Amongst such noise the entertainment’s viewed, the works of art, the foreign jewels with which the actor Drips, as he takes the stage to tumultuous applause. ‘Has he spoken yet?’ ‘Not a thing.’ ‘Then, why the fuss?’ ‘ Oh, it’s his wool robe dyed violet in Tarentum.’ But lest you happen to think I give scant praise to those Who handle with skill what I refuse to consider, Well that poet seems to me a magi, who can walk The tightrope, who can wring my heart with nothings, Inflame it, calm it, fill it with illusory fears, Set me down in Thebes one moment, Athens another.But come, give a moment’s care to those who trust themselves To the reader, rather than suffer the spectator’s Proud disdain, that is if you wish to fill with books Your gift worthy of Apollo, and spur our poets To seek Helicon’s verdant slopes with greater zeal. of course we poets frequently harm our own cause (Just as I’m axing my own vine) sending our books To you when you’re tired or anxious: when we’re hurt That a friend of ours has dared to criticise a verse: When we turn back to lines we’ve already read, unasked: When we moan that all our efforts go unnoticed, And our poetry, spun with such exquisite threads: While we live in hope that as soon as you hear that we Are composing verses, you’ll kindly send for us, Relieve our poverty, and command us to write. Still it’s worth while considering what kind of priests Virtue, tested at home and in war, should appoint, Since unworthy poets shouldn’t be given the task. Choerilus, who had his crude misbegotten verses To thank for the golden Philips, the royal coins, He received, more than pleased Alexander the Great: But often writers dim shining deeds with vile scrawls, As ink on the fingers will leaves its blots and stains. That same king, who paid so enormous a price for such Ridiculous poetry, issued an edict Forbidding anyone but Apelles to paint him, Anyone other than Lysippus to cast in bronze Brave Alexander’s artistic likeness. Yet if you Applied that judgement, so refined when viewing works of art, to books and to those same gifts of the Muses, You’d swear he’d been born to Boeotia’s dull air.But your judgement’s not discredited by your beloved Virgil and Varius, nor by the gifts your poets Receive, that redound to your credit, while features Are expressed no more vividly by a bronze statue, Than the spirit and character of famous heroes By the poet’s work. Rather than my earthbound pieces I’d prefer to compose tales of great deeds, Describe the contours of land and river, forts built On mountains, and barbarous kingdoms, of the end of all war, throughout the world, by your command, of the iron bars that enclose Janus, guardian of peace, of Rome, the terror of the Parthians, ruled by you, If I could do as much as I long to: but your greatness Admits of no lowly song, nor does my modesty Dare to attempt a task my powers cannot sustain. It’s a foolish zealousness that vexes those it loves, Above all when it commits itself to the art of verse: Men remember more quickly, with greater readiness, Things they deride, than those they approve and respect. I don’t want oppressive attention, nor to be shown Somewhere as a face moulded, more badly, in wax, Nor to be praised in ill-made verses, lest I’m forced To blush at the gift’s crudity, and then, deceased, In a closed box, be carried down, next to ‘my’ poet, To the street where they sell incense, perfumes, pepper, And whatever else is wrapped in redundant paper.If poems like wine improve with age, I’d like to know How many years it takes to give a work its value. Is a writer who died a century ago To be considered among the perfect classics, Or as one of the base moderns? Let’s set some limit To avoid dispute: ‘Over a hundred’s good and old.’ Well what about him, he died a year, a month short, How do we reckon him? As an ancient, or a poet Whom contemporaries and posterity will reject? ‘of course, if he falls short by a brief month, or even A whole year, he should be honoured among the ancients.’ I’ll accept that, and then like hairs in a horse’s tail I’ll subtract years, one by one, little by little, till By the logic of the dwindling pile, I demolish The man who turns to the calendar, and measures Value by age, only rates what Libitina’s blessed. Ennius, the ‘wise’ and ‘brave’, a second Homer, The critics declare, is free of anxiety it seems Concerning his Pythagorean dreams and claims. Naevius, isn’t he clinging to our hands and minds, Almost a modern? Every old poem is sacred, thus. Whenever the question’s raised who is superior, Old Pacuvius is ‘learned, Accius ‘noble’, Afranius’ toga’s the style of Meder’s, Plautus runs on like Sicilian Epicharmus, His model, Caecilius for dignity, Terence art. These mighty Rome memorises, watches them packed In her cramped theatre: these she owns to, counts them As poets, from the scribbler Livius’ day to our own.Sometimes the crowd see aright, sometimes they err. When they admire the ancient poets and praise them So none are greater, none can compare, they’re wrong. When they consider their diction too quaint, and often Harsh, when they confess that much of it’s lifeless, They’ve taste, they’re on my side, and judge like Jove. of course I’m not attacking Livius’ verses, Nor dream they should be destroyed, ones I remember Orbilius, the tartar, teaching me when I was a lad: But I’m amazed they’re thought finished, fine, almost perfect. Though maybe a lovely phrases glitters now and then, Or a couple of lines are a little more polished, That unjustly carry, and sell, the whole poem. I’m indigt that work is censured, not because It’s thought crudely or badly made, but because it’s new, While what’s old claims honours and prizes not indulgence. If I doubted whether a play of Atta’s could even make it Through the flowers and saffron, most old men would cry That Shame was dead, because I’d dared to criticise What grave Aesopus, and learned Roscius, acted: Either they think nothing’s good but what pleases them, Or consider it’s shameful to bow to their juniors, Confess: what beardless youth has learned, age should destroy. Indeed, whoever praises Numa’s Salian Hymn, And seems, uniquely, to follow what he and I can’t, Isn’t honouring and applauding some dead genius, But impugning ours, with envy, hating us and ours.If novelty had been as hateful to the Greeks As to us, what would we have, now, to call ancient? What would the crowd have to sample, read and thumb? As soon as Greece ceased fighting, she started fooling, And when better times had come, lapsed into error, One moment hot with enthusiasm for athletes, Then horses, mad for workers in ivory, marble, bronze: Mind and vision enraptured by painted panels, Crazy now for flute-players, now for tragic actors: Like a girl-child playing at her nurse’s feet, Quickly leaving when sated what she’s loudly craved. Such things blessed peace and fair breezes brought. For a long time, in Rome, it was a pleasant custom To be up at dawn, doors wide, to teach clients the law, To pay out good money to reliable debtors, To hear the elders out, tell the youngsters the way To grow an estate, and reduce their ruinous waste. But what likes and dislikes would you call immutable? The fickle public has changed its mind, fired as one With a taste for scribbling: sons and their stern fathers, Hair bound up with leaves, dine, and declaim their verse. Even I, who swear that I’m writing no more poetry, Lie more than a Parthian, wake before sun-up, And call for paper and pen and my writing-case. One without nautical skills fears to sail: no one Unskilled dares give Lad’s Love to the sick: doctors Practise medicine: carpenters handle carpentry tools: But, skilled or unskilled, we all go scribbling verses. |
17. Livy, History, 1.7.3-1.7.15, 1.21.4, 21.21.9, 26.19, 26.21.7-26.21.8, 38.17 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: • Polybios, historian, view of Alexandria • Polybius • Polybius (historian) • Polybius, • Polybius, on Marcellus’ plundering of Sicily • Polybius, on the spoils of Syracuse Found in books: Baumann and Liotsakis, Reading History in the Roman Empire (2022) 69; Bay, Biblical Heroes and Classical Culture in Christian Late Antiquity: The Historiography, Exemplarity, and Anti-Judaism of Pseudo-Hegesippus (2022) 118, 119; Davies, Rome's Religious History: Livy, Tacitus and Ammianus on their Gods (2004) 129; Gruen, Ethnicity in the Ancient World - Did it matter (2020) 78; Konig and Wiater, Late Hellenistic Greek Literature in Dialogue (2022) 61; König and Wiater, Late Hellenistic Greek Literature in Dialogue (2022) 61; Mueller, Roman Religion in Valerius Maximus (2002) 70; Poulsen, Usages of the Past in Roman Historiography (2021), 266; Richlin, Slave Theater in the Roman Republic: Plautus and Popular Comedy (2018) 56; Rutledge, Ancient Rome as a Museum: Power, Identity, and the Culture of Collecting (2012) 37; Santangelo, Roman Frugality: Modes of Moderation from the Archaic Age to the Early Empire and Beyond (2013) 213; Stavrianopoulou, Shifting Social Imaginaries in the Hellenistic Period: Narrations, Practices and Images (2013) 353; Welch, Tarpeia: Workings of a Roman Myth (2015) 65 1.7.3 ita solus potitus imperio Romulus; condita Lurbs urbs conditoris nomine appellata. Palatium primum, in quo ipse erat educatus, muniit. sacra diis aliis Albano ritu, Graeco Herculi, ut ab Euandro instituta erant, facit. 1.7.6 Hercules ad primam auroram somno excitus cum gregem perlustrasset oculis et partem abesse numero sensisset, pergit ad proximam speluncam, si forte eo vestigia ferrent. quae ubi omnia foras versa vidit nec in partem aliam ferre, confusus atque incertus animi ex loco infesto agere porro armentum occepit. 1.7.9 is tur tum Euander concursu pastorum trepidantium circa advenam manifestae reum caedis excitus postquam facinus facinorisque causam audivit, habitum formamque viri aliquantum ampliorem augustioremque humana intuens rogitat, qui vir esset. 1.7.12 ibi tum tum primum bove eximia capta de grege sacrum Herculi adhibitis ad ministerium dapemque Potitiis ac Pinariis, quae turn tum familiae maxime inclitae ea loca incolebant, factum. forte ita evenit, 1.7.15 haec tum sacra Romulus una ex omnibus peregrina suscepit, iam tur tum inmortalitatis virtute partae, ad quam eum sua fata ducebant, fautor. Herculem in ea loca Geryone interempto boves mira specie abegisse memorant ac prope Tiberim fluvium, qua prae se armentum agens do traiecerat, loco herbido, ut quiete et pabulo laeto reficeret boves, et ipsum fessum via procubuisse. ibi cum eum cibo vinoque gravatum sopor oppressisset, pastor accola eius loci, nomine Cacus, ferox viribus, captus pulchritudine boum cum avertere ear eam praedam vellet, quia, si agendo armentum in speluncam compulisset, ipsa vestigia quaerentem dominum eo deductura erant, aversos boves, eximium quemque pulchritudine, caudis in speluncam traxit. inde cum actae boves quaedam ad desiderium, ut fit, relictarum mugissent, reddita inclusarum ex spelunca bour boum vox Herculem convertit. quem cum vadentem ad speluncam Cacus vi prohibere conatus esset, ictus clava fidem pastorum nequiquam invocans morte occubuit. Euander tum ea profugus ex Peloponneso auctoritate magis quam imperio regebat loca, venerabilis vir miraculo litterarum, rei novae inter rudes artium homines, venerabilior divinitate credita Carmentae matris, quam fatiloquam ante Sibyllae in Italiam adventum miratae eae gentes fuerant. ubi nomen patremque ac patriam accepit, “Iove nate, Hercules, salve” inquit; “te mihi mater, veridica interpres deum, aucturum caelestium numerum cecinit tibique aram hic dicatum iri, quam opulentissima olim in terris gens maximam vocet tuoque ritu colat.”, dextra Hercules data accipere se omen inpleturumque impleturumque fata ara condita ac dicata ait. ut Potitii ad tempus praesto essent iisque exta apponerentur, Pinarii extis adesis ad ceteram venirent dapem. inde institutum mansit, donec Pinarium genus fuit, ne extis sollemnium vescerentur. Potitii ab Euandro edocti antistites sacri eius per multas aetates fuerunt, done donec tradito servis publicis sollemni familiae ministerio genus omne Potitiorum interiit. et soli Fidei sollemne instituit. ad id sacrarium flamines bigis curru arcuato vehi iussit manuque ad digitos usque involuta rem divinam facere, significantes fidem tutandam sedemque eius etiam in dexteris sacratam esse. Hannibal cum recensuisset omnium gentium auxilia, Gadis profectus Herculi vota exsolvit novisque se obligat votis, si cetera prospera evenissent. quaa ubi ab re tanto impetu acta sollicitudinem curamque hominum animadvertit, advocata contione ita de aetate sua imperioque mandato et bello, quod gerundum esset magno elatoque animo disseruit, ad eas copias quas ex vetere exercitu Hispania babebat habebat quaeque a Puteolis cum C. Nerone traiectae erant, decem milia militum et mille equites adduntur; et M. Iunius Silanus propraetor adiutor ad res gerendas datus est. ita cum triginta navium classe — omnes autem quinqueremes erant — ab ostiis Tiberinis profectus praeter oram Tusci maris, Alpes atque Gallicam sinum et deinde Pyrenaei circumvectus promunturium, Emporiis, urbe Graeca — oriundi et ipsi a Phocaea sunt —, copias exposuit. inde sequi navibus iussis Tarraconem pedibus profectus conventum omnium sociorum — etenim legationes ad famam eius ex omni se provincia effuderant — habuit. naves ibi subduci iussit remissis quattuor triremibus Massiliensium, quae officii causa ab domo prosecutae fuerant. responsa inde legationibus suspensis varietate tot casuum dare coepit ita elato ab ingenti virtutum suarum fiducia animo, ut nullum ferox verbum excideret, ingensque omnibus, quae diceret, cum maiestas inesset tum fides. ut ardorem eum, quui qui resederat, excitaret rursus novaretque et impleret homines certioris spei, quam quantam fides promissi humani aut ratio ex fiducia rerum subicere solet. fuit enim Scipio non veris tantum virtutibus mirabilis, sed arte quoque quadam ab iuventa in ostentationem earum compositus, pleraque apud multitudinem aut ut per nocturnas visa species aut velut divinitus mente monita agens, sive et ipse capti quadam superstition animi, sive ut imperia consiliaque velut sorte oraculi missa sine cunctatione exsequerentur. ad hoc iam inde ab initio praeparans animos, ex quo togam virilem sumpsit, nullo die prius ullam publicam privatamque rem egit, quam in Capitolium iret ingressusque aedem consideret et plerumque solus in secreto ibi tempus tereret. hic mos, quem per omnem vitam servabat, etl seu consulto seu temere vulgatae opinioni fidem apud quosdam fecit stirpis eum divinae virum esse, rettulitque famam in Alexandro Magno prius vulgatam, et vanitate et fabula parem, anguis immanis concubitu conceptum, et in cubiculo matris eius visam persaepe prodigii eius speciem interventuque hominum evolutasn repente atque ex oculis elapsam. his miraculis nlmiquam nunquam ab ipso elusa fides est; quin potius aucta arte quadam nec abnuendi tale quicquam nec palam adfirmandi. multa alia eiusdem generis, alia vera, alia adsimulata, admirationis humanae in eo iuvene excesserant modum; quibus freta tunc civitas aetati haudquaquam maturae tantam rerum molem tantumque imperium permisit. pridie quam urbem iniret, in monte Albano triumphavit; inde ovans multam prae se praedam in urbem intulit: cum simulacro captarum Syracusarum catapultae ballistaeque et alia omnia instrumenta belli lata et pacis diuturnae regiaeque opulentiae ornamenta, cum hoc hoste, tam terribili omnibus regionis eius, quia bellum gerendum erat, pro contione milites in hunc maxime modum adlocutus est consul: quod appellantur; sicut in frugibus pecudibusque non tantum semina ad servandam indolem valent, quantum terrae proprietas caelique, sub quo aluntur, mutat. Macedones, qui Alexandriam in Aegypto, qui Seleuciam ac Babyloniam, quique alias sparsas per orbem terrarum colonias habent, in Syros Parthos Aegyptios degenerarunt; Massilia, inter Gallos sita, traxit aliquantum ab accolis animorum; Tarentinis quid ex Spartana dura illa et horrida disciplina mansit? est generosius, in sua quidquid sede gignitur; insitum alienae terrae in id, quo alitur, natura vertente se, degenerat. Phrygas igitur Gallicis oneratos armis, sicut in acie Antiochi cecidistis, victos victores, caedetis. magis vereor, ne parum inde gloriae, quam ne nimium belli sit. Attalus eos rex saepe fudit fugavitque. nolite existimare beluas tantum recens captas feritatem illam silvestrem primo servare, dein, cum diu fibus manibus humanis aluntur, mitescere, in hominum feritate mulcenda non eandem naturam esse. eosdemne hos creditis esse, qui patres eorum avique fuerunt? extorres inopia agrorum profecti domo per asperrimam Illyrici oram, Paeoniam inde et Thraeciam pugdo cum ferocissimis gentibus emensi, has terras ceperunt. duratos eos tot malis exasperatosque accepit terra, quae copia omnium rerum saginaret. uberrimo agro, mitissimo caelo, clementibus accolarum ingeniis omnis illa, cum qua venerant, mansuefacta est feritas. vobis mehercule, Martiis viris, cavenda ac fugienda quam primum amoenitas est Asiae: tantum hae peregrinae voluptates ad extinguendum vigorem animorum possunt; tantum contagio disciplinae morisque accolarum valet. hoc tamen feliciter evenit, quod sicut vim adversus vos nequaquam, ita famam apud Graecos parem illi antiquae obtinent, “non me praeterit, milites, omnium quae Asiam colunt gentium Gallos fama belli praestare. cum qua venerunt, bellique gloriam victores eandem inter socios habebitis, quam si servantis anticum specimen animorum Gallos vicissetis.” inter mitissimum genus hominum ferox natio pervagata bello prope orbem terrarum sedem cepit. procera corpora, promissae et rutilatae comae, vasta scuta, praelongi gladii; ad hoc cantus ineuntium proelium et ululatus et tripudia, et quatientium scuta in patrium quendam modum horrendus armorum crepitus, omnia de industria composita ad terrorem. sed haec, quibus insolita atque insueta sunt, Graeci et Phryges et Cares timeant; Romanis Gallici tumultus adsueti, etiam vanitates notae sunt. semel primo congressu ad Aliam eos olim fugerunt maiores nostri; ex eo tempore per ducentos iam annos pecorum in modum consternatos caedunt fugantque, et plures prope de Gallis triumphi quani quam de toto orbe terrarum acti sunt. iam usu hoc cognitum est: si primum impetum, quem fervido ingenio et caeca ira effundunt, sustinueris, fluunt sudore et lassitudine membra, labant arma; mollia corpora, molles, ubi ira consedit, animos sol pulvis sitis, ut ferrum non admoveas, prosternunt. non legionibus legiones eorum solum experti sumus, sed vir unus cum viro congrediendo T. Manlius, M. Valerius, quantum Gallicam rabiem vinceret Romana virtus, docuerunt. iam M. Manlius unus agmine scandentis in Capitolium detrusit Gallos. et illis maioribus nostris cum haud dubiis Gallis, in sua terra genitis, res erat; hi iam degeneres sunt, mixti, et Gallograeci vere, 1.7.3 Romulus thus became sole ruler, and the city was called after him, its founder. His first work was to fortify the Palatine hill where he had been brought up. The worship of the other deities he conducted according to the use of Alba, but that of Hercules in accordance with the Greek rites as they had been instituted by Evander. 4 It was into this neighbourhood, according to the tradition, that Hercules, after he had killed Geryon, drove his oxen, which were of marvellous beauty. He swam across the Tiber, driving the oxen before him, and wearied with his journey, lay down in a grassy place near the river to rest himself and the oxen, who enjoyed the rich pasture. 5 When sleep had overtaken him, as he was heavy with food and wine, a shepherd living near, called Cacus, presuming on his strength, and captivated by the beauty of the oxen, determined to secure them. If he drove them before him into the cave, their hoof-marks would have led their owner in his search for them in the same direction, so he dragged the finest of them backwards by their tails into his cave. At the first streak of dawn Hercules awoke, and on surveying his herd and saw that some were missing. " 1.7.6 He proceeded towards the nearest cave, to see if any tracks pointed in that direction, but he found that every hoof-mark led from the cave and none towards it. Perplexed and bewildered he began to drive the herd away from so dangerous a neighbourhood. Some of the cattle, missing those which were left behind, lowed as they often do, and an answering low sounded from the cave. 7 Hercules turned in that direction, and as Cacus tried to prevent him by force from entering the cave, he was killed by a blow from Hercules club, after vainly appealing for help to his comrades. The king of the country at that time was Evander, a refugee from Peloponnesus, who ruled more by personal ascendancy than by the exercise of power. 8 He was looked up to with reverence for his knowledge of letters — a new and marvellous thing for uncivilized men — but he was still more revered because of his mother, who was believed to be a divine being and regarded with wonder, by all as an interpreter of Fate, in the days before the arrival of the Sibyl in Italy.", " 1.7.9 This Evander, alarmed by the crowd of excited shepherds standing round a stranger whom they accused of open murder, ascertained from them the nature of his act and what led to it. As he observed the bearing and stature of the man to be more than human in greatness and august dignity, he asked who he was. 10 When he heard his name, and learnt his father and his country, he said, ‘Hercules, son of Jupiter, hail! My mother, who speaks truth in the name of the gods, has prophesied that thou shalt join the company of the gods, and that here a shrine shall be dedicated to thee, which in ages to come the most powerful nation in all the world shall call their Ara Maxima and honour with thine own special worship.’ 11 Hercules grasped Evanders right hand and said that he took the omen to himself and would fulfil the prophecy by building and consecrating the altar.", 1.7.12 Then a heifer of conspicuous beauty was taken from the herd, and the first sacrifice was offered; the Potitii and Pinarii, the two principal families in those parts, were invited by Hercules to assist in the sacrifice and at the feast which followed. 13 It so happened that the Potitii were present at the appointed time and the entrails were placed before them; the Pinarii arrived after these were consumed and came in for the rest of the banquet. 14 It became a permanent institution from that time that as long as the family of the Pinarii survived they should not eat of the entrails of the victims. The Potitii, after being instructed by Evander, presided over that rite for many ages, until they handed over this ministerial office to public servants after which the whole race of the Potitii perished. 1.7.15 This, out of all foreign rites, was the only one which Romulus adopted, as though he felt that an immortality won through courage, of which this was the memorial, would one day be his own reward. |
18. Philo of Alexandria, On The Life of Moses, 2.184 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: • Polybius Found in books: Geljon and Runia, Philo of Alexandria: On Cultivation: Introduction, Translation and Commentary (2013) 132; Geljon and Runia, Philo of Alexandria: On Planting: Introduction, Translation and Commentary (2019) 278 2.184 for he who seeks to avoid labour is also avoiding good. And he, again, who encounters what is disagreeable to be borne with fortitude and manly perseverance, is taking the best road to happiness; for it is not the nature of virtue to abide with those who are given up to delicacy and luxury, and who have become effeminate in their souls, and whose bodies are enervated by the incessant luxury which they practise every day; but it is subdued by such conduct, and determined to change its abode, having first of all arranged its departure so as to depart to, and abide with, the ruler of right reason. |
19. Sallust, Catiline, 5.9 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: • Polybius Found in books: Baumann and Liotsakis, Reading History in the Roman Empire (2022) 28; Poulsen, Usages of the Past in Roman Historiography (2021), 279 NA> |
20. Sallust, Iugurtha, 4.5 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: • Polybius, • Polybius, on Horatius Cocles Found in books: Bay, Biblical Heroes and Classical Culture in Christian Late Antiquity: The Historiography, Exemplarity, and Anti-Judaism of Pseudo-Hegesippus (2022) 129; Langlands, Exemplary Ethics in Ancient Rome (2018) 94 NA> |
21. Strabo, Geography, 1.1.1-1.1.10, 1.1.12-1.1.17, 1.2.1, 1.2.3, 1.2.16, 1.4.3, 2.3.5, 2.4.7, 2.5.8, 2.5.17, 3.1.3, 3.4.20, 3.5.5, 3.5.7, 5.1.7, 5.1.11, 5.2.2, 5.2.8-5.2.9, 5.3.7, 6.1.2, 6.1.12, 6.1.14, 6.4.2, 8.6.23, 17.1.12, 17.3.24-17.3.25 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: • Polybios • Polybios of Megalopolis • Polybios of Megalopolis, on Hannibal’s routes into Italy • Polybios, historian, view of Alexandria • Polybius • Polybius, geographical ‘digression’ • Polybius, on Marcellus’ plundering of Sicily • Polybius, on Megale Hellas • Polybius, on mousike Found in books: Bianchetti et al., Brill’s Companion to Ancient Geography: The Inhabited World in Greek and Roman Tradition (2015) 209, 224, 249, 252, 254, 276, 289, 290; Chaniotis, Unveiling Emotions III: Arousal, Display, and Performance of Emotions in the Greek World (2021) 181; Gee, Mapping the Afterlife: From Homer to Dante (2020) 73, 74; Gruen, Ethnicity in the Ancient World - Did it matter (2020) 76; Gruen, Rethinking the Other in Antiquity (2011) 107, 121; Kneebone, Orthodoxy and the Courts in Late Antiquity (2020) 382, 383, 384, 385, 386; Konig and Wiater, Late Hellenistic Greek Literature in Dialogue (2022) 56, 173, 238, 241, 242; Konig, The Folds of Olympus: Mountains in Ancient Greek and Roman Culture (2022) 366; Konrad, The Challenge to the Auspices: Studies on Magisterial Power in the Middle Roman Republic (2022) 218; Kowalzig, Singing for the Gods: Performances of Myth and Ritual in Archaic and Classical Greece (2007) 326; König and Wiater, Late Hellenistic Greek Literature in Dialogue (2022) 56, 173, 238, 241, 242; Oksanish, Vitruvian Man: Rome Under Construction (2019) 108; Poulsen, Usages of the Past in Roman Historiography (2021), 140; Rutledge, Ancient Rome as a Museum: Power, Identity, and the Culture of Collecting (2012) 37; Stanton, Unity and Disunity in Greek and Christian Thought under the Roman Peace (2021) 70; Stavrianopoulou, Shifting Social Imaginaries in the Hellenistic Period: Narrations, Practices and Images (2013) 347, 348; Stephens and Winkler, Ancient Greek Novels: The Fragments: Introduction, Text, Translation, and Commentary (1995) 107; Viglietti and Gildenhard, Divination, Prediction and the End of the Roman Republic (2020) 357; Woolf, Tales of the Barbarians: Ethnography and Empire in the Roman West (2011) 79 1.1.1 IF the scientific investigation of any subject be the proper avocation of the philosopher, Geography, the science of which we propose to treat, is certainly entitled to a high place; and this is evident from many considerations. They who first ventured to handle the matter were distinguished men. Homer, Anaximander the Milesian, and Hecataeus, (his fellow-citizen according to Eratosthenes,) Democritus, Eudoxus, Dicaearchus, Ephorus, with many others, and after these Erastosthenes, Polybius, and Posidonius, all of them philosophers. Nor is the great learning, through which alone this subject can be approached, possessed by any but a person acquainted with both human and divine things, and these attainments constitute what is called philosophy. In addition to its vast importance in regard to social life, and the art of government, Geography unfolds to us the celestial phenomena, acquaints us with the occupants of the land and ocean, and the vegetation, fruits, and peculiarities of the various quarters of the earth, a knowledge of which marks him who cultivates it as a man earnest in the great problem of life and happiness. 1.1.2 Admitting this, let us examine more in detail the points we have advanced. And first, we maintain, that both we and our predecessors, amongst whom is Hipparchus, do justly regard Homer as the founder of geographical science, for he not only excelled all, ancient as well as modern, in the sublimity of his poetry, but also in his experience of social life. Thus it was that he not only exerted himself to become familiar with as many historic facts as possible, and transmit them to posterity, but also with the various regions of the inhabited land and sea, some intimately, others in a more general manner. For otherwise he would not have reached the utmost limits of the earth, traversing it in his imagination. " 1.1.3 First, he stated that the earth was entirely encompassed by the ocean, as in truth it is; afterwards he described the countries, specifying some by name, others more generally by various indications, explicitly defining Libya, Ethiopia, the Sidonians, and the Erembi (by which latter are probably intended the Troglodyte Arabians); and alluding to those farther east and west as the lands washed by the ocean, for in ocean he believed both the sun and constellations to rise and set. Now from the gently-swelling flood profound The sun arising, with his earliest rays, In his ascent to heaven smote on the fields. (Iliad vii. 421). And now the radiant sun in ocean sank, Dragging night after him oer all the earth. (Iliad viii. 485). The stars also he describes as bathed in the ocean.", " 1.1.4 He portrays the happiness of the people of the West, and the salubrity of their climate, having no doubt heard of the abundance of Iberia, which had attracted the arms of Hercules, afterwards of the Phoenicians, who acquired there an extended rule, and finally of the Romans. There the airs of Zephyr breathe, there the poet feigned the fields of Elysium, when he tells us Menelaus was sent thither by the gods: Thee the gods Have destined to the blest Elysian isles, Earths utmost boundaries. Rhadamanthus there For ever reigns, and there the human kind Enjoy the easiest life; no snow is there, No biting winter, and no drenching shower, But Zephyr always gently from the sea Breathes on them, to refresh the happy race. Od. iv. 563", 1.1.5 The Isles of the Blest are on the extreme west of Maurusia, near where its shore runs parallel to the opposite coast of Spain; and it is clear he considered these regions also Blest, from their contiguity to the Islands. " 1.1.6 He tells us also, that the Ethiopians are far removed, and bounded by the ocean: far removed, — The Ethiopians, utmost of mankind, These eastward situate, those toward the west. Od. i. 23 Nor was he mistaken in calling them separated into two divisions, as we shall presently show: and next to the ocean, — For to the banks of the Oceanus, Where Ethiopia holds a feast to Jove, He journeyd yesterday. Speaking of the Bear, he implies that the most northern part of the earth is bounded by the ocean: Only star of these denied To slake his beams in Oceans briny baths. Iliad xviii. 489; Od. v. 275. Now, by the Bear and the Wain, he means the Arctic Circle; otherwise he would never have said, It alone is deprived of the baths of the ocean, when such an infinity of stars is to be seen continually revolving in that part of the hemisphere. Let no one any longer blame his ignorance for being merely acquainted with one Bear, when there are two. It is probable that the second was not considered a constellation until, on the Phoenicians specially designating it, and employing it in navigation, it became known as one to the Greeks. Such is the case with the Hair of Berenice, and Canopus, whose names are but of yesterday; and, as Aratus remarks, there are numbers which have not yet received any designation. Crates, therefore, is mistaken when, endeavouring to amend what is correct, he reads the verse thus: οἷος δ᾽ ἄμμορός ἐστι λοετρῶν, replacing οἴη by οἶς, with a view to make the adjective agree with the Arctic Circle, which is masculine; instead of the Arctic Constellation, which is feminine. The expression of Heraclitus is far more preferable and Homeric, who thus figuratively describes the Arctic Circle as the Bear, — The Bear is the limit of the dawn and of the evening, and from the region of the Bear we have fine weather. Now it is not the constellation of the Bear, but the Arctic Circle, which is the limit of the rising and the setting stars. By the Bear, then, which he elsewhere calls the Wain, and describes as pursuing Orion, Homer means us to understand the Arctic Circle; and by the ocean, that horizon into which, and out of which, the stars rise and set. When he says that the Bear turns round and is deprived of the ocean, he was aware that the Arctic Circle always extended to the sign opposite the most northern point of the horizon. Adapting the words of the poet to this view, by that part of the earth nearest to the ocean we must understand the horizon, and by the Arctic Circle that which extends to the signs which seem to our senses to touch in succession the most northern point of the horizon. Thus, according to him, this portion of the earth is washed by the ocean. With the nations of the North he was well acquainted, although he does not mention them by name, and indeed at the present day there is no regular title by which they are all distinguished. He informs us of their mode of life, describing them as wanderers, noble milkers of mares, living on cheese, and without wealth.", " 1.1.7 In the following speech of Juno, he states that the ocean surrounds the earth. For to the green earths utmost bounds I go, To visit there the parent of the gods, Oceanus. Iliad xiv. 200. Does he not here assert that ocean bounds all its extremities, and does it not surround these extremities? Again, in the Hoplopoeia, he places the ocean in a circle round the border of Achilles shield. Another proof of the extent of his knowledge, is his acquaintance with the ebb and flow of the sea, calling it the ebbing ocean. Again, Each day she thrice disgorges, and again Thrice drinks, insatiate, the deluge down. The assertion of thrice, instead of twice, is either an error of the author, or a blunder of the scribe, but the phenomenon is the same, and the expression soft-flowing, has reference to the flood-tide, which has a gentle swell, and does not flow with a full rush. Posidonius believes that where Homer describes the rocks as at one time covered with the waves, and at another left bare, and when he compares the ocean to a river, he alludes to the flow of the ocean. The first supposition is correct, but for the second there is no ground; inasmuch as there can be no comparison between the flow, much less the ebb of the sea, and the current of a river. There is more probability in the explanation of Crates, that Homer describes the whole ocean as deep-flowing, ebbing, and also calls it a river, and that he also describes a part of the ocean as a river, and the flow of a river; and that he is speaking of a part, and not the whole, when he thus writes: — When down the smooth Oceanus impelld By prosperous gales, my galley, once again, Cleaving the billows of the spacious deep, Had reachd the Aeaean isle. He does not, however, mean the whole, but the flow of the river in the ocean, which forms but a part of the ocean. Crates says, he speaks of an estuary or gulf, extending from the winter tropic towards the south pole. Now any one quitting this, might still be in the ocean; but for a person to leave the whole and still to be in the whole, is an impossibility. But Homer says, that leaving the flow of the river, the ship entered on the waves of the sea, which is the same as the ocean. If you take it otherwise you make him say, that departing from the ocean he came to the ocean. But this requires further discussion.", 1.1.8 Perception and experience alike inform us, that the earth we inhabit is an island: since wherever men have approached the termination of the land, the sea, which we designate ocean, has been met with: and reason assures us of the similarity of those places which our senses have not been permitted to survey. For in the east the land occupied by the Indians, and in the west by the Iberians and Maurusians, is wholly encompassed by water, and so is the greater part on the south and north. And as to what remains as yet unexplored by us, because navigators, sailing from opposite points, have not hitherto fallen in with each other, it is not much, as any one may see who will compare the distances between those places with which we are already acquainted. Nor is it likely that the Atlantic Ocean is divided into two seas by narrow isthmuses so placed as to prevent circumnavigation: how much more probable that it is confluent and uninterrupted! Those who have returned from an attempt to circumnavigate the earth, do not say they have been prevented from continuing their voyage by any opposing continent, for the sea remained perfectly open, but through want of resolution, and the scarcity of provision. This theory too accords better with the ebb and flow of the ocean, for the phenomenon, both in the increase and diminution, is everywhere identical, or at all events has but little difference, as if produced by the agitation of one sea, and resulting from one cause. 1.1.9 We must not credit Hipparchus, who combats this opinion, denying that the ocean is every where similarly affected; or that even if it were, it would not follow that the Atlantic flowed in a circle, and thus continually returned into itself. Seleucus, the Babylonian, is his authority for this assertion. For a further investigation of the ocean and its tides we refer to Posidonius and Athenodorus, who have fully discussed this subject: we will now only remark that this view agrees better with the uniformity of the phenomenon; and that the greater the amount of moisture surrounding the earth, the easier would the heavenly bodies be supplied with vapours from thence. " 1.1.10 Homer, besides the boundaries of the earth, which he fully describes, was likewise well acquainted with the Mediterranean. Starting from the Pillars, this sea is encompassed by Libya, Egypt, and Phoenicia, then by the coasts opposite Cyprus, the Solymi, Lycia, and Caria, and then by the shore which stretches between Mycale and Troas, and the adjacent islands, every one of which he mentions, as well as those of the Propontis and the Euxine, as far as Colchis, and the locality of Jasons expedition. Furthermore, he was acquainted with the Cimmerian Bosphorus, having known the Cimmerians, and that not merely by name, but as being familiar with themselves. About his time, or a little before, they had ravaged the whole country, from the Bosphorus to Ionia. Their climate he characterizes as dismal, in the following lines: — With clouds and darkness veild, on whom the sun Deigns not to look with his beam-darting eye, But sad night canopies the woeful race. Od. xi. 15 and 19. He must also have been acquainted with the Ister, since he speaks of the Mysians, a Thracian race, dwelling on the banks of the Ister. He knew also the whole Thracian coast adjacent thereto, as far as the Peneus, for he mentions individually the Paeonians, Athos, the Axius, and the neighbouring islands. From hence to Thesprotis is the Grecian shore, with the whole of which he was acquainted. He was besides familiar with the whole of Italy, and speaks of Temese and the Sicilians, as well as the whole of Spain and its fertility, as we have said before. If he omits various intermediate places this must be pardoned, for even the compiler of a Geography overlooks numerous details. We must forgive him too for intermingling fabulous narrative with his historical and instructive work. This should not be complained of; nevertheless, what Eratosthenes says is false, that the poets aim at amusement, not instruction, since those who have treated upon the subject most profoundly, regard poesy in the light of a primitive philosophy. But we shall refute Eratosthenes more at length, when we have occasion again to speak of Homer.", 1.1.12 Many have testified to the amount of knowledge which this subject requires, and Hipparchus, in his Strictures on Eratosthenes, well observes, that no one can become really proficient in geography, either as a private individual or as a professor, without an acquaintance with astronomy, and a knowledge of eclipses. For instance, no one could tell whether Alexandria in Egypt were north or south of Babylon, nor yet the intervening distance, without observing the latitudes. Again, the only means we possess of becoming acquainted with the longitudes of different places is afforded by the eclipses of the sun and moon. Such are the very words of Hipparchus. 1.1.13 Every one who undertakes to give an accurate description of a place, should be particular to add its astronomical and geometrical relations, explaining carefully its extent, distance, degrees of latitude, and climate. Even a builder before constructing a house, or an architect before laying out a city, would take these things into consideration; much more should he who examines the whole earth: for such things in a peculiar manner belong to him. In small distances a little deviation north or south does not signify, but when it is the whole circle of the earth, the north extends to the furthest confines of Scythia, or Keltica, and the south to the extremities of Ethiopia: there is a wide difference here. The case is the same should we inhabit India or Spain, one in the east, the other far west, and, as we are aware, the antipodes to each other. 1.1.14 The motions of the sun and stars, and the centripetal force meet us on the very threshold of such subjects, and compel us to the study of astronomy, and the observation of such phenomena as each of us may notice; in which too, very considerable differences appear, according to the various points of observation. How could any one undertake to write accurately and with propriety on the differences of the various parts of the earth, who was ignorant of these matters? and although, if the undertaking were of a popular character, it might not be advisable to enter thoroughly into detail, still we should endeavour to include every thing which could be comprehended by the general reader. 1.1.15 He who has thus elevated his mind, will he be satisfied with any thing less than the whole world? If in his anxiety accurately to portray the inhabited earth, he has dared to survey heaven, and make use thereof for purposes of instruction, would it not seem childish were he to refrain from examining the whole earth, of which the inhabited is but a part, its size, its features, and its position in the universe; whether other portions are inhabited besides those on which we dwell, and if so, their amount? What is the extent of the regions not peopled? what their peculiarities, and the cause of their remaining as they are? Thus it appears that the knowledge of geography is connected with meteorology and geometry, that it unites the things of earth to the things of heaven, as though they were nearly allied, and not separated. As far as heaven from earth. Iliad viii. 16, " 1.1.16 To the various subjects which it embraces let us add natural history, or the history of the animals, plants, and other different productions of the earth and sea, whether serviceable or useless, and my original statement will, I think, carry perfect conviction with it. That he who should undertake this work would be a benefactor to mankind, reason and the voice of antiquity agree. The poets feign that they were the wisest heroes who travelled and wandered most in foreign climes: and to be familiar with many countries, and the disposition of the inhabitants, is, according to them, of vast importance. Nestor prides himself on having associated with the Lapithae, to whom he went, having been invited thither from the Apian land afar. So does Menelaus: — Cyprus, Phoenicia, Sidon, and the shores of Egypt, roaming without hope I reachd; In distant Ethiopia thence arrived, And Libya, where the lambs their foreheads show With budding horns defended soon as yeand. Od. iv. 83. Adding as a peculiarity of the country, There thrice within the year the flocks produce. Od. iv. 86. And of Egypt: — Where the sustaining earth is most prolific. And Thebes, the city with an hundred gates, Whence twenty thousand chariots rush to war. Iliad ix. 383 Such information greatly enlarges our sphere of knowledge, by informing us of the nature of the country, its botanical and zoological peculiarities. To these should be added its marine history; for we are in a certain sense amphibious, not exclusively connected with the land, but with the sea as well. Hercules, on account of his vast experience and observation, was described as skilled in mighty works. All that we have previously stated is confirmed both by the testimony of antiquity and by reason. One consideration however appears to bear in a peculiar manner on the case in point; viz. the importance of geography in a political view. For the sea and the earth in which we dwell furnish theatres for action; limited, for limited actions; vast, for grander deeds; but that which contains them all, and is the scene of the greatest undertakings, constitutes what we term the habitable earth; and they are the greatest generals who, subduing nations and kingdoms under one sceptre, and one political administration, have acquired dominion over land and sea. It is clear then, that geography is essential to all the transactions of the statesman, informing us, as it does, of the position of the continents, seas, and oceans of the whole habitable earth. Information of especial interest to those who are concerned to know the exact truth of such particulars, and whether the places have been explored or not: for government will certainly be better administered where the size and position of the country, its own peculiarities, and those of the surrounding districts, are understood. Forasmuch as there are many sovereigns who rule in different regions, and some stretch their dominion over others territories, and undertake the government of different nations and kingdoms, and thus enlarge the extent of their dominion, it is not possible that either themselves, nor yet writers on geography, should be equally acquainted with the whole, but to both there is a great deal more or less known. Indeed, were the whole earth under one government and one administration, it is hardly possible that we should be informed of every locality in an equal degree; for even then we should be most acquainted with the places nearest us: and after all, it is better that we should have a more perfect description of these, since, on account of their proximity, there is greater reed for it. We see there is no reason to be surprised that there should be one chorographer for the Indians, another for the Ethiopians, and a third for the Greeks and Romans. What use would it be to the Indians if a geographer should thus describe Boeotia to them, in the words of Homer: — The dwellers on the rocks of Aulis followd, with the hardy clans of Hyria, Schoenus, Scolus. Iliad ii. 496. To us this is of value, while to be acquainted with the Indies and their various territorial divisions would be useless, as it could lead to no advantage, which is the only criterion of the worth of such knowledge.", 1.1.17 Even if we descend to the consideration of such trivial matters as hunting, the case is still the same; for he will be most successful in the chase who is acquainted with the size and nature of the wood, and one familiar with the locality will be the most competent to superintend an encampment, an ambush, or a march. But it is in great undertakings that the truth shines out in all its brilliancy, for here, while the success resulting from knowledge is grand, the consequences of ignorance are disastrous. The fleet of Agamemnon, for instance, ravaging Mysia, as if it had been the Trojan territory, was compelled to a shameful retreat. Likewise the Persians and Libyans, supposing certain straits to be impassable, were very near falling into great perils, and have left behind them memorials of their ignorance; the former a monument to Salganeus on the Euripus, near Chalcis, whom the Persians slew, for, as they thought, falsely conducting their fleet from the Gulf of Malea to the Euripus; and the latter to the memory of Pelorus, who was executed on a like occasion. At the time of the expedition of Xerxes, the coasts of Greece were covered with wrecks, and the emigrations from Aeolia and Ionia furnish numerous instances of the same calamity. On the other hand, matters have come to a prosperous termination, when judiciously directed by a knowledge of the locality. Thus it was at the pass of Thermopylae that Ephialtes is reported to have pointed out to the Persians a pathway over the mountains, and so placed the band of Leonidas at their mercy, and opened to the Barbarians a passage into Pylae. But passing over ancient occurrences, we think that the late expeditions of the Romans against the Parthians furnish an excellent example, where, as in those against the Germans and Kelts, the Barbarians, taking advantage of their situation, carried on the war in marshes, woods, and pathless deserts, deceiving the ignorant enemy as to the position of different places, and concealing the roads, and the means of obtaining food and necessaries. 1.2.1 No one can justly blame us for having undertaken to write on a subject already often treated of, unless it appears that we have done nothing more than copy the works of former writers. In our opinion, though they may have perfectly treated some subjects, in others they have still left much to be completed; and we shall be justified in our performance, if we can add to their information even in a trifling degree. At the present moment the conquests of the Romans and Parthians have added much to our knowledge, which (as was well observed by Eratosthenes) had been considerably increased by the expedition of Alexander. This prince laid open to our view the greater part of Asia, and the whole north of Europe as far as the Danube. And the Romans have discovered to us the entire west of Europe as far as the river Elbe, which divides Germany, and the country beyond the Ister to the river Dniester. The country beyond this to the Maeotis, and the coasts extending along Colchis, was brought to light by Mithridates, surnamed Eupator, and his generals. To the Parthians we are indebted for a better acquaintance with Hyrcania, Bactriana, and the land of the Scythians lying beyond, of which before we knew but little. Thus we can add much information not supplied by former writers, but this will best be seen when we come to treat on the writers who have preceded us; and this method we shall pursue, not so much in regard to the primitive geographers, as to Eratosthenes and those subsequent to him. As these writers far surpassed the generality in the amount of their knowledge, so naturally it is more difficult to detect their errors when such occur. If I seem to contradict those most whom I take chiefly for my guides, I must claim indulgence on the plea, that it was never intended to criticise the whole body of geographers, the larger number of whom are not worthy of consideration, but to give an opinion of those only who are generally found correct. Still, while many are beneath discussion, such men as Eratosthenes, Posidonius, Hipparchus, Polybius, and others of their stamp, deserve our highest consideration. " 1.2.3 Eratosthenes says that the poet directs his whole attention to the amusement of the mind, and not at all to its instruction. In opposition to his idea, the ancients define poesy as a primitive philosophy, guiding our life from infancy, and pleasantly regulating our morals, our tastes, and our actions. The Stoics of our day affirm that the only wise man is the poet. On this account the earliest lessons which the citizens of Greece convey to their children are from the poets; certainly not alone for the purpose of amusing their minds, but for their instruction. Nay, even the professors of music, who give lessons on the harp, lyre, and pipe, lay claim to our consideration on the same account, since they say that the accomplishments which they teach are calculated to form and improve the character. It is not only among the Pythagoreans that one hears this claim supported, for Aristoxenus is of that opinion, and Homer too regarded the bards as amongst the wisest of mankind. of this number was the guardian of Clytemnestra, to whom the son of Atreus, when he set out for Troy, gave earnest charge to preserve his wife, whom Aegisthus was unable to seduce, until leading the bard to a desert island, he left him, and then The queen he led, not willing less than he, To his own mansion. Ib. iii. 272. But apart from all such considerations, Eratosthenes contradicts himself; for a little previously to the sentence which we have quoted, at the commencement of his Essay on Geography, he says, that all the ancient poets took delight in showing their knowledge of such matters. Homer inserted into his poetry all that he knew about the Ethiopians, Egypt, and Libya. of all that related to Greece and the neighbouring places he entered even too minutely into the details, describing Thisbe as abounding in doves, Haliartus, grassy, Anthedon, the far distant, Lilaea, situated on the sources of the Cephissus, and none of his epithets are without their meaning. But in pursuing this method, what object has he in view, to amuse merely, or to instruct? The latter, doubtless. Well, perhaps he has told the truth in these instances, but in what was beyond his observation both he and the other writers have indulged in all the marvels of fable. If such be the case the statement should have been, that the poets relate some things for mere amusement, others for instruction; but he affirms that they do it altogether for amusement, without any view to information; and by way of climax, inquires, What can it add to Homers worth to be familiar with many lands, and skilled in strategy, agriculture, rhetoric, and similar information, which some persons seem desirous to make him possessed of. To seek to invest him with all this knowledge is most likely the effect of too great a zeal for his honour. Hipparchus observes, that to assert he was acquainted with every art and science, is like saying that an Attic eiresione bears pears and apples. As far as this goes, Eratosthenes, you are right enough; not so, however, when you not only deny that Homer was possessed of these vast acquirements, but represent poetry in general as a tissue of old wives fables, where, to use your own expression, every thing thought likely to amuse is cooked up. I ask, is it of no value to the auditors of the poets to be made acquainted with the history of different countries, with strategy, agriculture, and rhetoric, and suchlike things, which the lecture generally contains.", " 1.2.16 He then goes on to describe the manner in which they catch the sword-fish at Scyllaion. One look-out directs the whole body of fishers, who are in a vast number of small boats, each furnished with two oars, and two men to each boat. One man rows, the other stands on the prow, spear in hand, while the look-out has to signal the appearance of a sword-fish. (This fish, when swimming, has about a third of its body above water.) As it passes the boat, the fisher darts the spear from his hand, and when this is withdrawn, it leaves the sharp point with which it is furnished sticking in the flesh of the fish: this point is barbed, and loosely fixed to the spear for the purpose; it has a long end fastened to it; this they pay out to the wounded fish, till it is exhausted with its struggling and endeavours at escape. Afterwards they trail it to the shore, or, unless it is too large and full-grown, haul it into the boat. If the spear should fall into the sea, it is not lost, for it is jointed of oak and pine, so that when the oak sinks on account of its weight, it causes the other end to rise, and thus is easily recovered. It sometimes happens that the rower is wounded, even through the boat, and such is the size of the sword with which the galeote is armed, such the strength of the fish, and the method of the capture, that in danger it is not surpassed by the chase of the wild boar. From these facts (he says) we may conclude that Ulysses wanderings were close to Sicily, since Homer describes Scylla as engaging in a pursuit exactly similar to that which is carried on at Scyllaion. As to Charybdis, he describes just what takes place at the Strait of Messina: Each day she thrice disgorges, Od. xii. 105. instead of twice, being only a mistake, either of the scribe or the historian.", " 1.4.3 We will let pass the rest of his distances, since they are something near, — but that the Dnieper is under the same parallel as Thule, what man in his senses could ever agree to this? Pytheas, who has given us the history of Thule, is known to be a man upon whom no reliance can be placed, and other writers who have seen Britain and Ierne, although they tell us of many small islands round Britain, make no mention whatever of Thule. The length of Britain itself is nearly the same as that of Keltica, opposite to which it extends. Altogether it is not more than 5000 stadia in length, its outermost points corresponding to those of the opposite continent. In fact the extreme points of the two countries lie opposite to each other, the eastern extremity to the eastern, and the western to the western: the eastern points are situated so close as to be within sight of each other, both at Kent and at the mouths of the Rhine. But Pytheas tells us that the island of Britain is more than 20,000 stadia in length, and that Kent is some days sail from France. With regard to the locality of the Ostimii, and the countries beyond the Rhine, as far as Scythia, he is altogether mistaken. The veracity of a writer who has been thus false in describing countries with which we are well acquainted, should not be too much trusted in regard to unknown places.", 2.3.5 Thus far, says Posidonius, I have followed the history of Eudoxus. What happened afterwards is probably known to the people of Gades and Iberia; but, says he, all these things only demonstrate more clearly the fact, that the inhabited earth is entirely surrounded by the ocean. By no continent fettered in, But boundless in its flow, and free from soil. Posidonius is certainly a most strange writer; he considers that the voyage of the Magus, related by Heraclides, wants sufficient evidence, and also the account given by Herodotus of those sent out to explore by Darius. But this Bergaean nonsense, either the coinage of his own brain, or of some other story-teller, in whom he trusts, he pretends to be worthy of our belief. But in the first place, what is there credible in this tale of the Indian missing his way? The Arabian Gulf, which resembles a river, is narrow, and in length is from 5000 to 10,000 stadia up to its mouth, where it is narrowest of all. It is not likely that the Indians in their voyage out would have entered this Gulf by mistake. The extreme narrowness of the mouth must have warned them of their error. And if they entered it voluntarily, then there was no excuse for introducing the pretext of mistake and uncertain winds. And how did they suffer all of themselves but one to perish through hunger? And how was it that this surviver was able to manage the ship, which could not have been a small one either, fitted as it was for traversing such vast seas? What must have been his aptitude in learning the language of the country, and thus being able to persuade the king of his competence, as leader of the expedition? And how came it that Euergetes was in want of such guides, so many being already acquainted with this sea? How was it that he who was sent by the inhabitants of Cyzicus to carry libations and sacrifices, should forsake his city and sail for India? How was it that so great an affair was intrusted to him? And how came it that on his return, after being deprived of every thing contrary to expectation, and disgraced, a yet larger cargo of goods was intrusted to him? And when he had again returned into Ethiopia, what cause induced him to write down the words, or to inquire whence came the portion of the prow of the boat? For to learn that it was a ship of some sailing from the west, would have been no information to him, as he himself would have to sail from the west on his voyage back. When, on his return to Alexandria, he was detected in having appropriated to himself much of the merchandise, how came it that he was not punished, but allowed to go about interrogating the pilots, and exhibiting his bit of prow? And that one of these fellows actually recognised the relic, is it not delicious! Eudoxus too believed it, this is still richer; and inspired by the hope, hastens home, and then starts on a voyage beyond the Pillars of Hercules! But he could never have left Alexandria without a passport, still less after having stolen the royal property. To set sail on the sly was impossible, as the port and every other exit was kept by a numerous guard, which still exists, as we very well know who have lived in Alexandria for a long time, although it is not so strict since the Romans have had possession, but under the kings the guards were infinitely more alert. But allowing that he reached Gades, that he there constructed ships, and sailed thence with quite a royal fleet, when his vessel was shattered, by what means was he able to construct a third boat in a desert land? And when, being again on his voyage, he found that the Ethiopians of the West spoke the same language as those of the East, how came it that he, so proud of his travelling propensities, forgot the completion of his voyage, when he must have had so good an expectation that there was but little now left unexplored, but relinquishing these prospects, set his mind on the expedition being undertaken by Bogus? How did he become acquainted with the snare spread for him by that king? And what advantage would have accrued to Bogus by making away with the man, rather than by dismissing him? When Eudoxus learned the plot against himself, what means had he to escape to safer quarters? It is true that not one of these situations was actually impossible, but still they were difficult circumstances, such as one rarely escapes from by any prosperous fortune. However, he always came off with good luck, notwithstanding he was never out of danger. Besides this, how did it happen, that having escaped from Bogus, he was not afraid to sail round Africa a second time, with all the requisites for taking up his abode on the island? All this too closely resembles the falsehoods of Pytheas, Euhemerus, and Antiphanes. They however may be pardoned; for their only aim was that of the juggler. But who can forgive a demonstrator and philosopher, and one too striving to be at the head of their order? it is really too bad! 2.4.7 Further, the length of the inhabited earth is measured on a line parallel with the equator, as it is in this direction that its greatest length lies: in the same way with respect to each of the continents, we must take their length as it lies between two meridians. The measure of these lengths consists of a certain number of stadia, which we obtain either by going over the places themselves, or roads or ways parallel thereto. Polybius abandons this method, and adopts the new way of taking the segment of the northern semicircle comprised between the summer rising and the equinoctial rising. But no one ought to calculate by variable rules or measures in determining the length of fixed distances: nor yet should he make use of the phenomena of the heavens, which appear different when observed from different points, for distances which have their length determined by themselves and remain unchanged. The length of a country never varies, but depends upon itself; whereas, the equinoctial rising and setting, and the summer and winter rising and setting, depend not on themselves, but on our position with respect to them. As we shift from place to place, the equinoctial rising and setting, and the winter and summer rising and setting, shift with us; but the length of a continent always remains the same. To make the Tanais and the Nile the bounds of these continents, is nothing out of the way, but it is something strange to employ for this purpose the equinoctial rising and the summer rising. 2.5.8 It is true that Pytheas of Marseilles affirms that the farthest country north of the British islands is Thule; for which place he says the summer tropic and the arctic circle is all one. But he records no other particulars concerning it; he does not say whether Thule is an island, or whether it continues habitable up to the point where the summer tropic becomes one with the arctic circle. For myself, I fancy that the northern boundaries of the habitable earth are greatly south of this. Modern writers tell us of nothing beyond Ierne, which lies just north of Britain, where the people live miserably and like savages on account of the severity of the cold. It is here in my opinion the bounds of the habitable earth ought to be fixed. If on the one hand the parallels of Byzantium and Marseilles are the same, as Hipparchus asserts on the faith of Pytheas, (for he says that at Byzantium the gnomon indicates the same amount of shadow as Pytheas gives for Marseilles,) and at the same time the parallel of the Dnieper is distant from Byzantium about 3800 stadia, it follows, if we take into consideration the distance between Marseilles and Britain, that the circle which passes over the Dnieper traverses Britain as well. But the truth is that Pytheas, who so frequently misleads people, deceives in this instance too. It is generally admitted that a line drawn from the Pillars of Hercules, and passing over the Strait of Messina , Athens, and Rhodes, would lie under the same parallel of latitude. It is likewise admitted, that the line in passing from the Pillars to the Strait of Sicily divides the Mediterranean through the midst. Navigators tell us that the greatest distance from Keltica to Libya, starting from the bottom of the Galatic Bay, is 5000 stadia, and that this is likewise the greatest breadth of the Mediterranean. Consequently from the said line to the bottom of the bay is 2500 stadia; but to Marseilles the distance is rather less, in consequence of that city being more to the south than the bottom of the bay. But since from Rhodes to Byzantium is about 4900 stadia, it follows that Byzantium must be far north of Marseilles. The distance from this latter city to Britain is about the same as from Byzantium to the Dnieper. How far it may be from Britain to the island of Ierne is not known. As to whether beyond it there may still be habitable lands, it is not our business to inquire, as we stated before. It is sufficient for our science to determine this in the same manner that we did the southern boundaries. We there fixed the bounds of the habitable earth at 3000 stadia south of Meroe (not that these were its exact limits, but because they were sufficiently near); so in this instance they should be placed about the same number of stadia north of Britain, certainly not more than 4000. It would not serve any political purpose to be well acquainted with these distant places and the people who inhabit them; especially if they are islands whose inhabitants can neither injure us, nor yet benefit us by their commerce. The Romans might easily have conquered Britain, but they did not care to do so, as they perceived there was nothing to fear from the inhabitants, (they not being powerful enough to attack us,) and that they would gain nothing by occupying the land. Even now it appears that we gain more by the customs they pay, than we could raise by tribute, after deducting the wages of the soldiers necessary for guarding the island and exacting the taxes. And the other islands adjacent to this would be still more unproductive. 2.5.17 The ocean it is which principally divides the earth into various countries, and moulds its form. It creates bays, seas, straits, isthmuses, peninsulas, and capes; while rivers and mountains serve to the same purpose. It is by these means that continents, nations, and the position of cities are capable of being clearly distinguished, together with those various other details of which a chorographical chart is full. Amongst these latter are the multitude of islands scattered throughout the seas, and along every coast; each of them distinguished by some good or bad quality, by certain advantages or disadvantages, due either to nature or to art. The natural advantages of a place should always be mentioned, since they are permanent. Advantages which are adventitious are liable to change, although the majority of those which have continued for any length of time should not be passed over, nor even those which, although but recent, have yet acquired some note and celebrity. For those which continue, come to be regarded by posterity not as works of art, but as the natural advantages of the place; these therefore it is evident we must notice. True it is, that to many a city we may apply the reflection of Demosthenes on Olynthus and its neighbouring towns: So completely have they vanished, that no one who should now visit their sites could say that they had ever been inhabited! Still we are gratified by visiting these and similar localities, being desirous of beholding the traces of such celebrated places, and the tombs of famous men. In like manner we should record laws and forms of government no longer in existence, since these are serviceable to have in mind, equally with the remembrance of actions, whether for the sake of imitating or avoiding the like. 3.1.3 In shape it resembles a hide stretched out in length from west to east, the forepart towards the east, its breadth being from north to south. Its length is about 6000 stadia; the greatest breadth is 5000; while there are parts considerably less than 3000, particularly in the vicinity of the Pyrenees, which form the eastern side. This chain of mountains stretches without interruption from north to south, and divides Keltica from Iberia. The breadth both of Keltica and Iberia is irregular, the narrowest part in both of them from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic Ocean being near the Pyrenees, particularly on either side of that chain; this gives rise to gulfs both on the side of the Ocean, and also of the Mediterranean; the largest of these are denominated the Keltic or Galatic Gulfs, and they render the Keltic isthmus narrower than that of Iberia. The Pyrenees form the eastern side of Iberia, and the Mediterranean the southern from the Pyrenees to the Pillars of Hercules, thence the exterior ocean as far as the Sacred Promontory. The third or western side runs nearly parallel to the Pyrenees from the Sacred Promontory to the promontory of the Artabri, called Cape Nerium. The fourth side extends hence to the northern extremity of the Pyrenees. 3.4.20 At the present time some of the provinces having been assigned to the people and senate of the Romans, and the others to the emperor, Baetica appertains to the people, and a praetor has been sent into the country, having under him a quaestor and a lieutet. Its eastern boundary has been fixed near to Castlon. The remainder belongs to the emperor, who deputes two lieutets, a praetor, and a consul. The praetor with a lieutet administers justice amongst the Lusitanians, who are situated next Baetica, and extend as far as the outlets of the river Douro, for at the present time this district is called Lusitania by the inhabitants. Here is the city of Augusta Emerita. What remains, which is indeed the greater part of Iberia, is governed by the consul, who has under him a respectable force, consisting of about three legions, with three lieutets, one of whom with two legions guards the whole country north of the Douro, the inhabitants of which formerly were styled Lusitanians, but are now called Gallicians. The northern mountains, together with the Asturian and Cantabrian, border on these. The river Melsus flows through the country of the Asturians, and at a little distance is the city of Nougat, close to an estuary formed by the ocean, which separates the Asturians from the Cantabrians. The second lieutet with the remaining legion governs the adjoining district as far as the Pyrenees. The third oversees the midland district, and governs the cities inhabited by the togati, whom we have before alluded to as inclined to peace, and who have adopted the refined manners and mode of life of the Italians, together with the toga. These are the Keltiberians, and those who dwell on either side of the Ebro, as far as the sea-coast. The consul passes the winter in the maritime districts, mostly administering justice either in the city of Carthage, or Tarraco. During the summer he travels through the country, observing whatever may need reform. There are also the procurators of the emperor, men of the equestrian rank, who distribute the pay to the soldiers for their maintece. 3.5.5 Concerning the foundation of Gades, the Gaditanians report that a certain oracle commanded the Tyrians to found a colony by the Pillars of Hercules. Those who were sent out for the purpose of exploring, when they had arrived at the strait by Calpe, imagined that the capes which form the strait were the boundaries of the habitable earth, as well as of the expedition of Hercules, and consequently they were what the oracle termed the Pillars. They landed on the inside of the straits, at a place where the city of the Exitani now stands. Here they offered sacrifices, which however not being favourable, they returned. After a time others were sent, who advanced about 1500 stadia beyond the strait, to an island consecrated to Hercules, and lying opposite to Onoba, a city of Iberia: considering that here were the Pillars, they sacrificed to the god, but the sacrifices being again unfavourable, they returned home. In the third voyage they reached Gades, and founded the sanctuary in the eastern part of the island, and the city in the west. On this account some consider that the capes in the strait are the Pillars, others suppose Gades, while others again believe that they lie still farther, beyond Gades. There are also some who think that the Pillars are Calpe, and the mountain of Libya which is opposite, named Abilyx, and situated, according to Eratosthenes, amongst the Metagonians, a wandering race. Others fancy that they are two small islands near to the former, one of which is named the Island of Juno. Artemidorus speaks both of the Island of Juno and the sanctuary there, but makes no mention either of mount Abilyx, or the nation of the Metagonians. Some have transported hither the Planctae and the Symplgades, supposing them to be the Pillars, which Pindar calls the Gates of Gades, when he says that they were the farthest limits at which Hercules arrived. Dicaearchus, Eratosthenes, and Polybius, with most of the Grecians, represent the Pillars as being close to the strait, while the Iberians and Libyans place them at Gades, alleging that there is nothing at all resembling pillars close by the strait. Others pretend that they are the pillars of brass eight cubits high in the sanctuary of Hercules at Gades, on which is inscribed the cost of erecting that edifice; and that the sailors coming there on the completion of their voyage and sacrificing to Hercules, rendered the place so famous that it came to be regarded as the termination of the land and sea. Posidonius thinks this view the most probable of all, and looks upon the oracle and the several expeditions as a Phoenician invention. As for the expeditions, what matters it whether any one should vehemently deny or credit the account, as neither the one nor the other would be inconsistent with reason: but the assertion that neither the little islands, nor yet the mountains, bear much resemblance to pillars, and that we should seek for pillars, strictly so called, set up either as the termination of the habitable earth, or of the expedition of Hercules, has at all events some reason in it; it being an ancient usage to set up such boundary marks. As for instance the small column which the inhabitants of Rhegium erected by the Strait of Sicily, which is indeed a little tower; and the tower called after Pelorus, which is situated opposite to this small column; also the structures called altars of the Philaeni, about midway in the land between the Syrtes; likewise it is recorded, that a certain pillar was formerly erected on the Isthmus of Corinth, which the Ionians who took possession of Attica and Megaris when they were driven out of the Peloponnesus, and those who settled in the Peloponnesus, set up in common, and inscribed on the side next Megaris, This is no longer Peloponnesus, but Ionia, and on the opposite, This is Peloponnesus, not Ionia. Alexander too erected altars as boundaries of his Indian campaign in those parts of the Indies he arrived at, which were situated farthest towards the east, in imitation of Hercules and Bacchus. That this custom existed, then, cannot be doubted. 3.5.7 Polybius relates that there is a spring within the sanctuary of Hercules at Gades, having a descent of a few steps to fresh water, which is affected in a manner the reverse of the sea tides, subsiding at the flow of the tide, and springing at the ebb. He assigns as the cause of this phenomenon, that air rises from the interior to the surface of the earth; when this surface is covered by the waves, at the rising of the sea, the air is deprived of its ordinary vents, and returns to the interior, stopping up the passages of the spring, and causing a want of water, but when the surface is again laid bare, the air having a direct exit liberates the channels which feed the spring, so that it gushes freely. Artemidorus rejects this explanation, and substitutes one of his own, recording at the same time the opinion of the historian Silanus; but neither one or other of their views seems to me worth relating, since both he and Silanus were ignorant in regard to these matters. Posidonius asserts that the entire account is false, and adds that there are two wells in the sanctuary of Hercules, and a third in the city. That the smaller of the two in the sanctuary of Hercules, if drawn from frequently, will become for a time exhausted, but that on ceasing to draw from it, it fills again: while in regard to the larger, it may be drawn from during the whole day; that it is true it becomes lower, like all other wells, but that it fills again during the night when drawing ceases. He adds that the ebb tide frequently happening to occur during the period of its re-filling, gave rise to the groundless belief of the inhabitants as to its being affected in an opposite manner to the tides of the ocean. However it is not only related by him that it is a commonly believed fact, but we have received it from tradition as much referred to amongst paradoxes. We have likewise heard that there are wells both within the city and also in the gardens without, but that on account of the inferiority of this water, tanks are generally constructed throughout the city for the supply of water: whether likewise any of these reservoirs give any signs of being affected in an opposite manner to the tides, we know not. If such be the case, the causes thereof should be received as amongst phenomena hard to be explained. It is likely that Polybius may have assigned the proper reason; but it is also likely that certain of the channels of the springs being damped outside become relaxed, and so let the water run out into the surrounding land, instead of forcing it along its ancient passage to the spring; and there will of course be moisture when the tide overflows. But if, as Athenodorus asserts, the ebb and flow resemble the inspiration and expiration of the breath, it is possible that some of the currents of water which naturally have an efflux on to the surface of the earth, through various channels, the mouths of which we denominate springs and fountains, are by other channels drawn towards the depths of the sea, and raise it, so as to produce a flood-tide; when the expiration is sufficient, they leave off the course in which they are then flowing, and again revert to their former direction, when that again takes a change. 5.1.7 These cities are situated high above the marshes; near to them is Patavium, the finest of all the cities in this district, and which at the time of the late census was said to contain 500 equites. Anciently it could muster an army of 120,000 men. The population and skill of this city is evinced by the vast amount of manufactured goods it sends to the Roman market, especially clothing of all kinds. It communicates with the sea by a river navigable from a large harbour at its mouth, the river runs across the marshes for a distance of 250 stadia. This harbour, as well as the river, is named Medoacus. Situated in the marshes is the great city of Ravenna, built entirely on piles, and traversed by canals, which you cross by bridges or ferry-boats. At the full tides it is washed by a considerable quantity of sea-water, as well as by the river, and thus the sewage is carried off, and the air purified; in fact, the district is considered so salubrious that the Roman governors have selected it as a spot to bring up and exercise the gladiators in. It is a remarkable peculiarity of this place, that, though situated in the midst of a marsh, the air is perfectly innocuous; the same is the case with respect to Alexandria in Egypt, where the malignity of the lake during summer is entirely removed by the rising of the river which covers over the mud. Another remarkable peculiarity is that of its vines, which, though growing in the marshes, make very quickly and yield a large amount of fruit, but perish in four or five years. Altinum stands likewise in the marshes, its situation being very similar to that of Ravenna. Between them is Butrium, a small city of Ravenna, and Spina, which is now a village, but was anciently a celebrated Grecian city. In fact, the treasures of the Spinitae are shown at Delphi, and it is, besides, reported in history that they had dominion over the sea. They say that it formerly stood on the sea; now, however, the district is inland about 90 stadia from the sea. Ravenna is reported to have been founded by Thessalians, who not being able to sustain the violence of the Tyrrheni, welcomed into their city some of the Ombrici, who still possess it, while they themselves returned home. These cities for the most part are surrounded, and, as it were, washed by the marshes. 5.1.11 Both in Cispadana and around the Po there are some fine cities. Placentia and Cremona, situated about the middle of the country, are close to each other. Between these and Ariminum, are Parma, Mutina, and Bononia, which is near to Ravenna; amongst these are smaller cities on the route to Rome, as Acara, Regium Lepidum, Campi Macri, where a public festival is held every year, Claterna, Forum Cornelium; while Faventia and Caesena, situated near to the river Savio and the Rubicon, are adjacent to Ariminum. Ariminum, like Ravenna, is an ancient colony of the Ombri. but both of them have received also Roman colonies. Ariminum has a port and a river of the same name as itself. From Placentia to Ariminum there are 1300 stadia. About 36 miles above Placentia, towards the boundaries of the kingdom of Cottius, is the city of Ticinum, by which flows a river bearing the same name, which falls into the Po, while a little out of the route are Clastidium, Derthon, and Aquae Statiellae. But the direct route to Ocelum, along the Po and the Doria river is full of precipices, intersected by numerous other rivers, one of which is the Druentia, and is about 160 miles long. Here commence the Alpine mountains and Keltica. Near to the mountains above Luna is the city of Lucca. Some of the people of this part of Italy dwell in villages, nevertheless it is well populated, and furnishes the greater part of the military force, and of equites, of whom the senate is partly composed. Derthon is a considerable city, situated about half way on the road from Genoa to Placentia, which are distant 400 stadia from each other. Aquae Statiellae is on the same route. That from Placentia to Ariminum we have already described, but the sail to Ravenna down the Po requires two days and nights. A great part of Cispadana likewise was covered by marshes, through which Hannibal passed with difficulty on his march into Tyrrhenia. But Scaurus drained the plains by navigable canals from the Po to the country of the Parmesans. For the Trebia meeting the Po near Placentia, and having previously received many other rivers, is over-swollen near this place. I allude to the Scaurus who also made the Aemilian road through Pisa and Luna as far as Sabbatorum, and thence through Derthon. There is another Aemilian road, which continues the Flaminian. For Marcus Lepidus and Caius Flaminius being colleagues in the consulship, and having vanquished the Ligurians, the one made the Via Flaminia from Rome across Tyrrhenia and Ombrica as far as the territory of Ariminum, the other, the road as far as Bononia, and thence to Aquileia by the roots of the Alps, and encircling the marshes. The boundaries which separate from the rest of Italy this country, which we designate Citerior Keltica, were marked by the Apennine mountains above Tyrrhenia and the river Esino, and afterwards by the Rubicon. Both these rivers fall into the Adriatic. 5.2.2 The Tyrrheni have now received from the Romans the surname of Etrusci and Tusci. The Greeks thus named them from Tyrrhenus the son of Atys, as they say, who sent hither a colony from Lydia. Atys, who was one of the descendants of Hercules and Omphale, and had two sons, in a time of famine and scarcity determined by lot that Lydus should remain in the country, but that Tyrrhenus, with the greater part of the people, should depart. Arriving here, he named the country after himself, Tyrrhenia, and founded twelve cities, having appointed as their governor Tarcon, from whom the city of Tarquinia received its name, and who, on account of the sagacity which he had displayed from childhood, was feigned to have been born with hoary hair. Placed originally under one authority, they became flourishing; but it seems that in after-times, their confederation being broken up and each city separated, they yielded to the violence of the neighbouring tribes. Otherwise they would never have abandoned a fertile country for a life of piracy on the sea. roving from one ocean to another; since, when united they were able not only to repel those who assailed them, but to act on the offensive, and undertake long campaigns. After the foundation of Rome, Demaratus arrived here, bringing with him people from Corinth. He was received at Tarquinia, where he had a son, named Lucumo, by a woman of that country. Lucumo becoming the friend of Ancus Marcius, king of the Romans, succeeded him on the throne, and assumed the name of Lucius Tarquinius Priscus. Both he and his father did much for the embellishment of Tyrrhenia, the one by means of the numerous artists who had followed him from their native country; the other having the resources of Rome. It is said that the triumphal costume of the consuls, as well as that of the other magistrates, was introduced from the Tarquinii, with the fasces, axes, trumpets, sacrifices, divination, and music employed by the Romans in their public ceremonies. His son, the second Tarquin, named Superbus, who was driven from his throne, was the last king of Rome . Porsena, king of Clusium, a city of Tyrrhenia, endeavoured to replace him on the throne by force of arms, but not being able he made peace with the Romans, and departed in a friendly way, with honour and loaded with gifts. 5.2.8 Along the whole coast between Poplonium and Pisa these islands are clearly visible; they are oblong, and all three nearly parallel, running towards the south and Libya. Aethalia is by far smaller than either of the other two. The chorographer says that the shortest passage from Libya to Sardinia is 300 miles. After Poplonium is the city of Cossae, situated at a short distance from the sea: there is at the head of the bay a high hill upon which it is built; below it lies the port of Hercules, and near to it a marsh formed by the sea. At the summit of the cape which commands the gulf is a lookout for thunnies; for the tunny pursues his course along the coast, from the Atlantic Ocean as far as Sicily, in search not only of acorns, but also of the fish which furnishes the purple dye. As one sails along the coast from Cossae to Ostia there are the towns of Gravisci, Pyrgi, Alsium, and Fregena. From Cossae to Gravisci is a distance of 300 stadia, and between them is the place named Regis-Villa. This is said to have been the royal residence of Maleos the Pelasgian; they report that after he had reigned here for some time, he departed with his Pelasgians to Athens. These were of the same tribe as those who occupied Agylla. From Gravisci to Pyrgi is a little less than 180 stadia, and the sea-port town of the Caeretani is 30 stadia farther. Pyrgi contains a sanctuary of Ilethyia founded by the Pelasgi, and which was formerly rich, but it was plundered by Dionysius the tyrant of the Sicilians, at the time of his voyage to Cyrnus. From Pyrgi to Ostia is 260 stadia; between the two are Alsium and Fregena. Such is our account of the coast of Tyrrhenia. 5.2.9 In the interior of the country, besides the cities already mentioned, there are Arretium, Perusia, Volsinii, Sutrium; and in addition to these are numerous small cities, as Blera, Ferentinum, Falerium, Faliscum, Nepita, Statonia, and many others; some of which exist in their original state, others have been colonized by the Romans, or partially ruined by them in their wars, viz. those they frequently waged against the Veii and the Fidenae. Some say that the inhabitants of Falerium are not Tyrrhenians, but Falisci, a distinct nation; others state further, that the Falisci speak a language peculiar to themselves; some again would make it Aequum-Faliscum on the Via Flaminia, lying between Ocricli and Rome. Below Mount Soracte is the city of Feronia, having the same name as a certain goddess of the country, highly reverenced by the surrounding people: here is her sanctuary, in which a remarkable ceremony is performed, for those possessed by the divinity pass over a large bed of burning coal and ashes barefoot, unhurt. A great concourse of people assemble to assist at the festival, which is celebrated yearly, and to see the said spectacle. Arretium, near the mountains, is the most inland city: it is distant from Rome 1200 stadia: from Clusium to Rome is 800 stadia. Near to these two cities is Perusia. The large and numerous lakes add to the fertility of this country, they are navigable, and stocked with fish and aquatic birds. Large quantities of typha, papyrus, and anthela are transported to Rome, up the rivers which flow from these lakes to the Tiber. Among these are the lake Ciminius, and those near the Volsinii, and Clusium, and Sabatus, which is nearest to Rome and the sea, and the farthest Trasumennus, near Arretium. Along this is the pass by which armies can proceed from Cisalpine Keltica into Tyrrhenia; this is the one followed by Hannibal. There are two; the other leads towards Ariminum across Ombrica, and is preferable as the mountains are considerably lower; however, as this was carefully guarded, Hannibal was compelled to take the more difficult, which he succeeded in forcing after having vanquished Flaminius in a decisive engagement. There are likewise in Tyrrhenia numerous hot springs, which on account of their proximity to Rome, are not less frequented than those of Baiae, which are the most famous of all. 5.3.7 In the interior, the first city above Ostia is Rome; it is the only city built on the Tiber. It has been remarked above, that its position was fixed, not by choice, but necessity; to this must be added, that those who afterwards enlarged it, were not at liberty to select a better site, being prevented by what was already built. The first kings fortified the Capitol, the Palatium, and the Collis Quirinalis, which was so easy of access, that when Titus Tatius came to avenge the rape of the Sabine virgins, he took it on the first assault. Ancus Marcius, who added Mount Caelius and the Aventine Mount with the intermediate plain, separated as these places were both from each other and from what had been formerly fortified, was compelled to do this of necessity; since he did not consider it proper to leave outside his walls, heights so well protected by nature, to whomsoever might have a mind to fortify themselves upon them, while at the same time he was not capable of enclosing the whole as far as Mount Quirinus. Servius perceived this defect, and added the Esquiline and Viminal hills. As these were both of easy access from without, a deep trench was dug outside them and the earth thrown up on the inside, thus forming a terrace of 6 stadia in length along the inner side of the trench. This terrace he surmounted with a wall flanked with towers, and extending from the Colline to the Esquiline gate. Midway along the terrace is a third gate, named after the Viminal hill. Such is the Roman rampart, which seems to stand in need of other ramparts itself. But it seems to me that the first founders were of opinion, both in regard to themselves and their successors, that Romans had to depend not on fortifications, but on arms and their individual valour, both for safety and for wealth, and that walls were not a defence to men, but men were a defence to walls. At the period of its commencement, when the large and fertile districts surrounding the city belonged to others, and while it lay easily open to assault, there was nothing in its position which could be looked upon as favourable; but when by valour and labour these districts became its own, there succeeded a tide of prosperity surpassing the advantages of every other place. Thus, notwithstanding the prodigious increase of the city, there has been plenty of food, and also of wood and stone for ceaseless building, rendered necessary by the falling down of houses, and on account of conflagrations, and of the sales, which seem never to cease. These sales are a kind of voluntary falling down of houses, each owner knocking down and rebuilding one part or another, according to his individual taste. For these purposes the numerous quarries, the forests, and the rivers which convey the materials, offer wonderful facilities. of these rivers, the first is the Teverone, which flows from Alba, a city of the Latins near to the country of the Marsi, and from thence through the plain below this city, till it unites with the Tiber. After this come the Nera (Nar) and the Timia, which passing through Ombrica fall into the Tiber, and the Chiana, which flows through Tyrrhenia and the territory of Clusiumn. Augustus Caesar endeavoured to avert from the city damages of the kind alluded to, and instituted a company of freedmen, who should be ready to lend their assistance in cases of conflagration; whilst, as a preventive against the falling of houses, he decreed that all new buildings should not be carried so high as formerly, and that those erected along the public ways should not exceed seventy feet in height. But these improvements must have ceased only for the facilities afforded by the quarries, the forests, and the ease of transport. 6.1.2 These, then, are the places on the Tyrrhenian seaboard that belong to the Leucani. As for the other sea, they could not reach it at first; in fact, the Greeks who held the Gulf of Tarentum were in control there. Before the Greeks came, however, the Leucani were as yet not even in existence, and the regions were occupied by the Chones and the Oinotri. But after the Samnitae had grown considerably in power, and had ejected the Chones and the Oinotri, and had settled a colony of Leucani in this portion of Italy, while at the same time the Greeks were holding possession of both seaboards as far as the Strait, the Greeks and the barbarians carried on war with one another for a long time. Then the tyrants of Sicily, and afterwards the Carthaginians, at one time at war with the Romans for the possession of Sicily and at another for the possession of Italy itself, maltreated all the peoples in this part of the world, but especially the Greeks. Later on, beginning from the time of the Trojan war, the Greeks had taken away from the earlier inhabitants much of the interior country also, and indeed had increased in power to such an extent that they called this part of Italy, together with Sicily, Magna Graecia. But today all parts of it, except Taras, Rhegium, and Neapolis, have become completely barbarized, and some parts have been taken and are held by the Leucani and the Brettii, and others by the Campani — that is, nominally by the Campani but in truth by the Romans, since the Campani themselves have become Romans. However, the man who busies himself with the description of the earth must needs speak, not only of the facts of the present, but also sometimes of the facts of the past, especially when they are notable. As for the Leucani, I have already spoken of those whose territory borders on the Tyrrhenian sea, while those who hold the interior are the people who live above the Gulf of Tarentum. But the latter, and the Brettii, and the Samnitae themselves (the progenitors of these peoples) have so utterly deteriorated that it is difficult even to distinguish their several settlements; and the reason is that no common organization longer endures in any one of the separate tribes; and their characteristic differences in language, armor, dress, and the like, have completely disappeared; and, besides, their settlements, severally and in detail, are wholly without repute. " 6.1.12 The first city is Croton, within one hundred and fifty stadia from the Lacinium; and then comes the River Aesarus, and a harbor, and another river, the Neaethus. The Neaethus got its name, it is said, from what occurred there: Certain of the Achaeans who had strayed from the Trojan fleet put in there and disembarked for an inspection of the region, and when the Trojan women who were sailing with them learned that the boats were empty of men, they set fire to the boats, for they were weary of the voyage, so that the men remained there of necessity, although they at the same time noticed that the soil was very fertile. And immediately several other groups, on the strength of their racial kinship, came and imitated them, and thus arose many settlements, most of which took their names from the Trojans; and also a river, the Neaethus, took its appellation from the aforementioned occurrence. According to Antiochus, when the god told the Achaeans to found Croton, Myscellus departed to inspect the place, but when he saw that Sybaris was already founded — having the same name as the river near by — he judged that Sybaris was better; at all events, he questioned the god again when he returned whether it would be better to found this instead of Croton, and the god replied to him (Myscellus was a hunchback as it happened): Myscellus, short of back, in searching else outside thy track, thou huntst for morsels only; tis right that what one giveth thee thou do approve; and Myscellus came back and founded Croton, having as an associate Archias, the founder of Syracuse, who happened to sail up while on his way to found Syracuse. The Iapyges used to live at Croton in earlier times, as Ephorus says. And the city is reputed to have cultivated warfare and athletics; at any rate, in one Olympian festival the seven men who took the lead over all others in the stadium-race were all Crotoniates, and therefore the saying The last of the Crotoniates was the first among all other Greeks seems reasonable. And this, it is said, is what gave rise to the other proverb, more healthful than Croton, the belief being that the place contains something that tends to health and bodily vigor, to judge by the multitude of its athletes. Accordingly, it had a very large number of Olympic victors, although it did not remain inhabited a long time, on account of the ruinous loss of its citizens who fell in such great numbers at the River Sagra. And its fame was increased by the large number of its Pythagorean philosophers, and by Milo, who was the most illustrious of athletes, and also a companion of Pythagoras, who spent a long time in the city. It is said that once, at the common mess of the philosophers, when a pillar began to give way, Milo slipped in under the burden and saved them all, and then drew himself from under it and escaped. And it is probably because he relied upon this same strength that he brought on himself the end of his life as reported by some writers; at any rate, the story is told that once, when he was travelling through a deep forest, he strayed rather far from the road, and then, on finding a large log cleft with wedges, thrust his hands and feet at the same time into the cleft and strained to split the log completely asunder; but he was only strong enough to make the wedges fall out, whereupon the two parts of the log instantly snapped together; and caught in such a trap as that, he became food for wild beasts.", 6.1.14 After Thurii comes Lagaria, a stronghold, founded by Epeius and the Phocaeans; thence comes the Lagaritan wine, which is sweet, mild, and extremely well thought of among physicians. That of Thurii, too, is one of the famous wines. Then comes the city Heracleia, a short distance above the sea; and two navigable rivers, the Aciris and the Siris. On the Siris there used to be a Trojan city of the same name, but in time, when Heracleia was colonized thence by the Tarantini, it became the port of the Heracleotes. It is twenty-four stadia distant from Heracleia and about three hundred and thirty from Thurii. Writers produce as proof of its settlement by the Trojans the wooden image of the Trojan Athene which is set up there — the image that closed its eyes, the fable goes, when the suppliants were dragged away by the Ionians who captured the city; for these Ionians came there as colonists when in flight from the dominion of the Lydians, and by force took the city, which belonged to the Chones, and called it Polieium; and the image even now can be seen closing its eyes. It is a bold thing, to be sure, to tell such a fable and to say that the image not only closed its eyes (just as they say the image in Troy turned away at the time Cassandra was violated) but can also be seen closing its eyes; and yet it is much bolder to represent as brought from Troy all those images which the historians say were brought from there; for not only in the territory of Siris, but also at Rome, at Lavinium, and at Luceria, Athene is called Trojan Athena, as though brought from Troy. And further, the daring deed of the Trojan women is current in numerous places, and appears incredible, although it is possible. According to some, however, both Siris and the Sybaris which is on the Teuthras were founded by the Rhodians. According to Antiochus, when the Tarantini were at war with the Thurii and their general Cleandridas, an exile from Lacedemon, for the possession of the territory of Siris, they made a compromise and peopled Siris jointly, although it was adjudged the colony of the Tarantini; but later on it was called Heracleia, its site as well as its name being changed. " 6.4.2 Now if I must add to my account of Italy a summary account also of the Romans who took possession of it and equipped it as a base of operations for the universal hegemony, let me add as follows: After the founding of Rome, the Romans wisely continued for many generations under the rule of kings. Afterwards, because the last Tarquinius was a bad ruler, they ejected him, framed a government which was a mixture of monarchy and aristocracy, and dealt with the Sabini and Latini as with partners. But since they did not always find either them or the other neighboring peoples well intentioned, they were forced, in a way, to enlarge their own country by the dismemberment of that of the others. And in this way, while they were advancing and increasing little by little, it came to pass, contrary to the expectation of all, that they suddenly lost their city, although they also got it back contrary to expectation. This took place, as Polybius says, in the nineteenth year after the naval battle at Aegospotami, at the time of the Peace of Antalcidas. After having rid themselves of these enemies, the Romans first made all the Latini their subjects; then stopped the Tyrrheni and the Celti who lived about the Padus from their wide and unrestrained licence; then fought down the Samnitae, and, after them, the Tarantini and Pyrrhus; and then at last also the remainder of what is now Italy, except the part that is about the Padus. And while this part was still in a state of war, the Romans crossed over to Sicily, and on taking it away from the Carthaginians came back again to attack the peoples who lived about the Padus; and it was while that war was still in progress that Hannibal invaded Italy. This latter is the second war that occurred against the Carthaginians; and not long afterwards occurred the third, in which Carthage was destroyed; and at the same time the Romans acquired, not only Libya, but also as much of Iberia as they had taken away from the Carthaginians. But the Greeks, the Macedonians, and those peoples in Asia who lived this side the Halys River and the Taurus Mountains joined the Carthaginians in a revolution, and therefore at the same time the Romans were led on to a conquest of these peoples, whose kings were Antiochus, Philip, and Perseus. Further, those of the Illyrians and Thracians who were neighbors to the Greeks and the Macedonians began to carry on war against the Romans and kept on warring until the Romans had subdued all the tribes this side the Ister and this side the Halys. And the Iberians, Celti, and all the remaining peoples which now give ear to the Romans had the same experience. As for Iberia, the Romans did not stop reducing it by force of arms until they had subdued the of it, first, by driving out the Nomantini, and, later on, by destroying Viriathus and Sertorius, and, last of all, the Cantabri, who were subdued by Augustus Caesar. As for Celtica (I mean Celtica as a whole, both the Cisalpine and Transalpine, together with Liguria), the Romans at first brought it over to their side only part by part, from time to time, but later the Deified Caesar, and afterwards Augustus Caesar, acquired it all at once in a general war. But at the present time the Romans are carrying on war against the Germans, setting out from the Celtic regions as the most appropriate base of operations, and have already glorified the fatherland with some triumphs over them. As for Libya, so much of it as did not belong to the Carthaginians was turned over to kings who were subject to the Romans, and, if they ever revolted, they were deposed. But at the present time Juba has been invested with the rule, not only of Maurusia, but also of many parts of the rest of Libya, because of his loyalty and his friendship for the Romans. And the case of Asia was like that of Libya. At the outset it was administered through the agency of kings who were subject to the Romans, but from that time on, when their line failed, as was the case with the Attalic, Syrian, Paphlagonian, Cappadocian, and Egyptian kings, or when they would revolt and afterwards be deposed, as was the case with Mithridates Eupator and the Egyptian Cleopatra, all parts of it this side the Phasis and the Euphrates, except certain parts of Arabia, have been subject to the Romans and the rulers appointed by them. As for the Armenians, and the peoples who are situated above Colchis, both Albanians and Iberians, they require the presence only of men to lead them, and are excellent subjects, but because the Romans are engrossed by other affairs, they make attempts at revolution — as is the case with all the peoples who live beyond the Ister in the neighborhood of the Euxine, except those in the region of the Bosporus and the Nomads, for the people of the Bosporus are in subjection, whereas the Nomads, on account of their lack of intercourse with others, are of no use for anything and only require watching. Also the remaining parts of Asia, generally speaking, belong to the Tent-dwellers and the Nomads, who are very distant peoples. But as for the Parthians, although they have a common border with the Romans and also are very powerful, they have nevertheless yielded so far to the preeminence of the Romans and of the rulers of our time that they have sent to Rome the trophies which they once set up as a memorial of their victory over the Romans, and, what is more, Phraates has entrusted to Augustus Caesar his children and also his childrens children, thus obsequiously making sure of Caesars friendship by giving hostages; and the Parthians of today have often gone to Rome in quest of a man to be their king, and are now about ready to put their entire authority into the hands of the Romans. As for Italy itself, though it has often been torn by factions, at least since it has been under the Romans, and as for Rome itself, they have been prevented by the excellence of their form of government and of their rulers from proceeding too far in the ways of error and corruption. But it were a difficult thing to administer so great a dominion otherwise than by turning it over to one man, as to a father; at all events, never have the Romans and their allies thrived in such peace and plenty as that which was afforded them by Augustus Caesar, from the time he assumed the absolute authority, and is now being afforded them by his son and successor, Tiberius, who is making Augustus the model of his administration and decrees, as are his children, Germanicus and Drusus, who are assisting their father.", " 8.6.23 The Corinthians, when they were subject to Philip, not only sided with him in his quarrel with the Romans, but individually behaved so contemptuously towards the Romans that certain persons ventured to pour down filth upon the Roman ambassadors when passing by their house. For this and other offences, however, they soon paid the penalty, for a considerable army was sent thither, and the city itself was razed to the ground by Leucius Mummius; and the other countries as far as Macedonia became subject to the Romans, different commanders being sent into different countries; but the Sikyonians obtained most of the Corinthian country. Polybius, who speaks in a tone of pity of the events connected with the capture of Corinth, goes on to speak of the disregard shown by the army for the works of art and votive offerings; for he says that he was present and saw paintings that had been flung to the ground and saw the soldiers playing dice on these. Among the paintings he names that of Dionysus by Aristeides, to which, according to some writers, the saying, Nothing in comparison with the Dionysus, referred; and also the painting of Heracles in torture in the robe of Deianeira. Now I have not seen the latter, but I saw the Dionysus, a most beautiful work, on the walls of the sanctuary of Ceres in Rome; but when recently the temple was burned, the painting perished with it. And I may almost say that the most and best of the other dedicatory offerings at Rome came from there; and the cities in the neighborhood of Rome also obtained some; for Mummius, being magimous rather than fond of art, as they say, readily shared with those who asked. And when Lucullus built the sanctuary of Good Fortune and a portico, he asked Mummius for the use of the statues which he had, saying that he would adorn the sanctuary with them until the dedication and then give them back. However, he did not give them back, but dedicated them to the goddess, and then bade Mummius to take them away if he wished. But Mummius took it lightly, for he cared nothing about them, so that he gained more repute than the man who dedicated them. Now after Corinth had remained deserted for a long time, it was restored again, because of its favorable position, by the deified Caesar, who colonized it with people that belonged for the most part to the freedmen class. And when these were removing the ruins and at the same time digging open the graves, they found numbers of terra-cotta reliefs, and also many bronze vessels. And since they admired the workmanship they left no grave unransacked; so that, well supplied with such things and disposing of them at a high price, they filled Rome with Corinthian mortuaries, for thus they called the things taken from the graves, and in particular the earthenware. Now at the outset the earthenware was very highly prized, like the bronzes of Corinthian workmanship, but later they ceased to care much for them, since the supply of earthen vessels failed and most of them were not even well executed. The city of the Corinthians, then, was always great and wealthy, and it was well equipped with men skilled both in the affairs of state and in the craftsmans arts; for both here and in Sikyon the arts of painting and modelling and all such arts of the craftsman flourished most. The city had territory, however, that was not very fertile, but rifted and rough; and from this fact all have called Corinth beetling, and use the proverb, Corinth is both beetle-browed and full of hollows.", " 17.1.12 At present Egypt is a (Roman) province, pays considerable tribute, and is well governed by prudent persons, who are sent there in succession. The governor thus sent out has the rank of king. Subordinate to him is the administrator of justice, who is the supreme judge in many causes. There is another officer, who is called Idiologus, whose business it is to inquire into property for which there is no claimant, and which of right falls to Caesar. These are accompanied by Caesars freedmen and stewards, who are entrusted with affairs of more or less importance.Three legions are stationed in Egypt, one in the city, the rest in the country. Besides these there are also nine Roman cohorts, three quartered in the city, three on the borders of Ethiopia in Syene, as a guard to that tract, and three in other parts of the country. There are also three bodies of cavalry distributed in convenient posts.of the native magistrates in the cities, the first is the expounder of the law, who is dressed in scarlet; he receives the customary honours of the country, and has the care of providing what is necessary for the city. The second is the writer of records, the third is the chief judge. The fourth is the commander of the night guard. These magistrates existed in the time of the kings, but in consequence of the bad administration of affairs by the latter, the prosperity of the city was ruined by licentiousness. Polybius expresses his indignation at the state of things when lie was there: he describes the inhabitants of the city to be composed of three classes; the (first) Egyptians and natives, acute but indifferent citizens, and meddling with civil affairs. Tile second, the mercenaries, a numerous and undisciplined body ; for it was an ancient custom to maintain foreign soldiers, who, from the worthlessness of their sovereigns, knew better how to govern than to obey. The third were the Alexandrines, who, for the same reason, were not orderly citizens; but still they were better than the mercenaries, for although they were a mixed race, yet being of Greek origin, they retained the customs common to the Greeks. But this class was extinct nearly about the time of Euergetes Physcon, in whose reign Polybius came to Alexandreia. For Physcon, being distressed by factions, frequently exposed the multitude to the attacks of the soldiery, and thus destroyed them. By such a state of things in the city the words of the poet (says Polybius) were verified: The way to Egypt is long and vexatious.", 17.3.24 Such, then, is the disposition of the parts of the world which we inhabit. But since the Romans have surpassed (in power) all former rulers of whom we have any record, and possess the choicest and best known parts of it, it will be suitable to our subject briefly to refer to their Empire.It has been already stated how this people, beginning from the single city of Rome, obtained possession of the whole of Italy, by warfare and prudent administration; and how, afterwards, following the same wise course, they added the countries all around it to their dominion.of the three continents, they possess nearly the whole of Europe, with the exception only of the parts beyond the Danube, (to the north,) and the tracts on the verge of the ocean, comprehended between the Rhine and the Tanais.of Africa, the whole sea-coast on the Mediterranean is in their power; the rest of that country is uninhabited, or the inhabitants only lead a miserable and nomad life.of Asia likewise, the whole sea-coast in our direction (on the west) is subject to them, unless indeed any account is to be taken of the Achei, Zygi, and Heniochi, who are robbers and nomads, living in confined and wretched districts. of the interior, and of the parts far inland, the Romans possess one portion, and the Parthians, or the barbarians beyond them, the other; on the east and north are Indians, Bactrians, and Scythians; then (on the south) Arabians and Ethiopians; but territory is continually being abstracted from these people by the Romans.of all these countries some are governed by (native) kings, but the rest are under the immediate authority of Rome, under the title of provinces, to which are sent governors and collectors of tribute; there are also some free cities, which from the first sought the friendship of Rome, or obtained their freedom as a mark of honour. Subject to her also are some princes, chiefs of tribes, and priests, who (are permitted) to live in conformity with their national laws. " 17.3.25 The division into provinces has varied at different periods, but at present it is that established by Augustus Caesar; for after the sovereign power had been conferred upon him by his country for life, and he had become the arbiter of peace and war, he divided the whole empire into two parts, one of which he reserved to himself, the other he assigned to the (Roman) people. The former consisted of such parts as required military defence, and were barbarian, or bordered upon nations not as yet subdued, or were barren and uncultivated, which though ill provided with everything else, were yet well furnished with strongholds. and might thus dispose the inhabitants to throw off the yoke and rebel. All the rest, which were peaceable countries, and easily governed without the assistance of arms, were given over to the (Roman) people. Each of these parts was subdivided into several provinces, which received respectively the titles of provinces of Caesar and provinces of the People.To the former provinces Caesar appoints governors and administrators, and divides the (various) countries sometimes in one way, sometimes in another, directing his political conduct according to circumstances.But the people appoint commanders and consuls to their own provinces, which are also subject to divers divisions when expediency requires it.(Augustus Caesar) in his first organization of (the Empire) created two consular governments, namely, the whole of Africa in possession of the Romans, excepting that part which was under the authority, first of Juba, but now of his son Ptolemy; and Asia within the Halys and Taurus, except the Galatians and the nations under Amyntas, Bithynia, and the Propontis. He appointed also ten consular governments in Europe and in the adjacent islands. Iberia Ulterior (Further Spain) about the river Baetis and Celtica Narbonensis (composed the two first). The third was Sardinia, with Corsica; the fourth Sicily; the fifth and sixth Illyria, districts near Epirus, and Macedonia; the seventh Achaia, extending to Thessaly, the Aetolians, Acarians, and the Epirotic nations who border upon Macedonia; the eighth Crete, with Cyrenaea; the ninth Cyprus; the tenth Bithynia, with the Propontis and some parts of Pontus.Caesar possesses other provinces, to the government of which he appoints men of consular rank, commanders of armies, or knights; and in his (peculiar) portion (of the empire) there are and ever have been kings, princes, and (municipal) magistrates." |
22. Appian, The Punic Wars, 132 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: • Polybius • Polybius, • Polybius, on the decline of the Roman Empire Found in books: Hau, Moral History from Herodotus to Diodorus Siculus (2017) 53; Isaac, The invention of racism in classical antiquity (2004) 309; Santangelo, Roman Frugality: Modes of Moderation from the Archaic Age to the Early Empire and Beyond (2013) 127 NA> |
23. Ignatius, To The Trallians, 1.1 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: • Polybius Found in books: Falcetta, Early Christian Teachers: The 'Didaskaloi' From Their Origins to the Middle of the Second Century (2020) 185; Moss, Ancient Christian Martyrdom: Diverse Practices, Theologies, and Traditions (2012) 56 1.1 I have learned that ye have a mind unblameable and stedfast in patience, not from habit, but by nature, according as Polybius your bishop informed me, who by the will of God and of Jesus Christ visited me in Smyrna; and so greatly did he rejoice with me in my bonds in Christ Jesus, that in him I beheld the whole multitude of you. |
24. Josephus Flavius, Jewish Antiquities, 12.11-12.118 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: • Polybius, as starting point Found in books: Konig and Wiater, Late Hellenistic Greek Literature in Dialogue (2022) 363; König and Wiater, Late Hellenistic Greek Literature in Dialogue (2022) 363 " 12.11 Βασιλεύσαντος δὲ ̓Αλεξάνδρου ἔτη δώδεκα καὶ μετ αὐτὸν Πτολεμαίου τοῦ Σωτῆρος τεσσαράκοντα καὶ ἕν, ἔπειτα τὴν βασιλείαν τῆς Αἰγύπτου παραλαβὼν ὁ Φιλάδελφος καὶ κατασχὼν αὐτὴν ἐπ ἔτη ἑνὸς δέοντα τεσσαράκοντα τόν τε νόμον ἡρμήνευσε καὶ τοὺς δουλεύοντας ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ τῶν ̔Ιεροσολυμιτῶν ἀπέλυσε τῆς δουλείας ὄντας περὶ δώδεκα μυριάδας ἐξ αἰτίας τοιαύτης:", 12.12 Δημήτριος ὁ Φαληρεύς, ὃς ἦν ἐπὶ τῶν βιβλιοθηκῶν τοῦ βασιλέως, σπουδάζων εἰ δυνατὸν εἴη πάντα τὰ κατὰ τὴν οἰκουμένην συναγαγεῖν βιβλία καὶ συνωνούμενος, εἴ τι που μόνον ἀκούσειε σπουδῆς ἄξιον ὄν, τῇ τοῦ βασιλέως προαιρέσει, μάλιστα γὰρ τὰ περὶ τὴν συλλογὴν τῶν βιβλίων εἶχεν φιλοκάλως, συνηγωνίζετο. " 12.13 ἐρομένου δ αὐτόν ποτε τοῦ Πτολεμαίου, πόσας ἤδη μυριάδας ἔχοι συνειλεγμένας βιβλίων, τῶν μὲν ὑπαρχόντων εἶπεν εἶναι περὶ εἴκοσι, ὀλίγου δὲ χρόνου εἰς πεντήκοντα συναθροίσειν.", " 12.14 μεμηνῦσθαι δ ἔλεγεν αὐτῷ πολλὰ εἶναι καὶ παρὰ ̓Ιουδαίοις τῶν παρ αὐτοῖς νομίμων συγγράμματα σπουδῆς ἄξια καὶ τῆς βασιλέως βιβλιοθήκης, ἃ τοῖς ἐκείνων χαρακτῆρσιν καὶ τῇ διαλέκτῳ γεγραμμένα πόνον αὐτοῖς οὐκ ὀλίγον παρέξειν εἰς τὴν ̔Ελληνικὴν μεταβαλλόμενα γλῶτταν.", " 12.15 δοκεῖ μὲν γὰρ εἶναι τῇ ἰδιότητι τῶν Συρίων γραμμάτων ἐμφερὴς ὁ χαρακτὴρ αὐτῶν καὶ τὴν φωνὴν ὁμοίαν αὐτοῖς ἀπηχεῖν, ἰδιότροπον δὲ αὐτὴν εἶναι συμβέβηκεν. οὐδὲν οὖν ἔλεγεν κωλύειν καὶ ταῦτα μεταβαλόντα, δύνασθαι γὰρ τῆς εἰς αὐτὸ χορηγίας εὐποροῦντα, ἔχειν ἐν τῇ βιβλιοθήκῃ καὶ τὰ παρ ἐκείνοις.", 12.16 δόξας οὖν ὁ βασιλεὺς ἄριστα τὸν Δημήτριον φιλοτιμουμένῳ περὶ πλῆθος αὐτῷ βιβλίων ὑποτίθεσθαι γράφει τῷ τῶν ̓Ιουδαίων ἀρχιερεῖ ταῦτα γίγνεσθαι. " 12.17 ̓Αρισταῖος δέ τις φίλος ὢν ἐν τοῖς μάλιστα τῷ βασιλεῖ καὶ σπουδαζόμενος ὑπ αὐτοῦ διὰ μετριότητα, πολλάκις μὲν καὶ πρότερον ἔγνω παρακαλέσαι τὸν βασιλέα, ὅπως ἀπολύσῃ τοὺς αἰχμαλώτους ̓Ιουδαίους ὅσοι κατὰ τὴν βασιλείαν ἦσαν αὐτοῦ,", " 12.18 καιρὸν δ ἐπιτήδειον τοῦτον εἶναι δοκιμάσας τῆς δεήσεως πρώτοις περὶ τούτου διαλέγεται τοῖς ἄρχουσι τῶν σωματοφυλάκων Σωσιβίῳ τῷ Ταραντίνῳ καὶ ̓Ανδρέᾳ, συναγωνίσασθαι περὶ ὧν ἐντυγχάνειν μέλλει τῷ βασιλεῖ παρακαλῶν αὐτούς.", 12.19 προσλαβὼν δὲ καὶ τὴν τῶν προειρημένων γνώμην ὁ ̓Αρισταῖος, προσελθὼν τῷ βασιλεῖ λόγους πρὸς αὐτὸν τοιούτους ἐποιήσατο: 12.11 1. When Alexander had reigned twelve years, and after him Ptolemy Soter forty years, Philadelphus then took the kingdom of Egypt, and held it forty years within one. He procured the law to be interpreted, and set free those that were come from Jerusalem into Egypt, and were in slavery there, who were a hundred and twenty thousand. The occasion was this: 12.12 Demetrius Phalerius, who was library keeper to the king, was now endeavoring, if it were possible, to gather together all the books that were in the habitable earth, and buying whatsoever was any where valuable, or agreeable to the king’s inclination, (who was very earnestly set upon collecting of books,) to which inclination of his Demetrius was zealously subservient. 12.13 And when once Ptolemy asked him how many ten thousands of books he had collected, he replied, that he had already about twenty times ten thousand; but that, in a little time, he should have fifty times ten thousand. 12.14 But he said he had been informed that there were many books of laws among the Jews worthy of inquiring after, and worthy of the king’s library, but which, being written in characters and in a dialect of their own, will cause no small pains in getting them translated into the Greek tongue; 12.15 that the character in which they are written seems to be like to that which is the proper character of the Syrians, and that its sound, when pronounced, is like theirs also; and that this sound appears to be peculiar to themselves. Wherefore he said that nothing hindered why they might not get those books to be translated also; for while nothing is wanting that is necessary for that purpose, we may have their books also in this library. 12.16 So the king thought that Demetrius was very zealous to procure him abundance of books, and that he suggested what was exceeding proper for him to do; and therefore he wrote to the Jewish high priest, that he should act accordingly. 12.17 2. Now there was one Aristeus, who was among the king’s most intimate friends, and on account of his modesty very acceptable to him. This Aristeus resolved frequently, and that before now, to petition the king that he would set all the captive Jews in his kingdom free; 12.18 and he thought this to be a convenient opportunity for the making that petition. So he discoursed, in the first place, with the captains of the king’s guards, Sosibius of Tarentum, and Andreas, and persuaded them to assist him in what he was going to intercede with the king for. 12.19 Accordingly Aristeus embraced the same opinion with those that have been before mentioned, and went to the king, and made the following speech to him: 12.20 “It is not fit for us, O king, to overlook things hastily, or to deceive ourselves, but to lay the truth open. For since we have determined not only to get the laws of the Jews transcribed, but interpreted also, for thy satisfaction, by what means can we do this, while so many of the Jews are now slaves in thy kingdom? ... 12.109 And when they all commended that determination of theirs, they enjoined, that if any one observed either any thing superfluous, or any thing omitted, that he would take a view of it again, and have it laid before them, and corrected; which was a wise action of theirs, that when the thing was judged to have been well done, it might continue for ever. 12.111 Demetrius made answer, “that no one durst be so bold as to touch upon the description of these laws, because they were divine and venerable, and because some that had attempted it were afflicted by God.”, 12.112 He also told him, that “Theopompus was desirous of writing somewhat about them, but was thereupon disturbed in his mind for above thirty days’ time; and upon some intermission of his distemper, he appeased God by prayer, as suspecting that his madness proceeded from that cause.” Nay, indeed, he further saw in a dream, that his distemper befell him while he indulged too great a curiosity about divine matters, and was desirous of publishing them among common men; but when he left off that attempt, he recovered his understanding again. 12.113 Moreover, he informed him of Theodectes, the tragic poet, concerning whom it was reported, that when in a certain dramatic representation he was desirous to make mention of things that were contained in the sacred books, he was afflicted with a darkness in his eyes; and that upon his being conscious of the occasion of his distemper, and appeasing God (by prayer), he was freed from that affliction. 12.114 15. And when the king had received these books from Demetrius, as we have said already, he adored them, and gave order that great care should be taken of them, that they might remain uncorrupted. He also desired that the interpreters would come often to him out of Judea, 12.115 and that both on account of the respects that he would pay them, and on account of the presents he would make them; for he said it was now but just to send them away, although if, of their own accord, they would come to him hereafter, they should obtain all that their own wisdom might justly require, and what his generosity was able to give them. 12.116 So he then sent them away, and gave to every one of them three garments of the best sort, and two talents of gold, and a cup of the value of one talent, and the furniture of the room wherein they were feasted. And these were the things he presented to them. 12.117 But by them he sent to Eleazar the high priest ten beds, with feet of silver, and the furniture to them belonging, and a cup of the value of thirty talents; and besides these, ten garments, and purple, and a very beautiful crown, and a hundred pieces of the finest woven linen; as also vials and dishes, and vessels for pouring, and two golden cisterns to be dedicated to God. 12.118 He also desired him, by an epistle, that he would give these interpreters leave, if any of them were desirous of coming to him, because he highly valued a conversation with men of such learning, and should be very willing to lay out his wealth upon such men. And this was what came to the Jews, and was much to their glory and honor, from Ptolemy Philadelphus. |
25. Josephus Flavius, Jewish War, 2.12-2.14, 2.39, 2.44-2.50, 2.69-2.79, 3.53, 3.354, 3.362-3.382, 5.19-5.20, 6.288-6.315, 6.411 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: • Polybius • Polybius, • Polybius, plundering of temples and the anger of the gods Found in books: Allen and Doedens, Turmoil, Trauma and Tenacity in Early Jewish Literature (2022) 189, 192, 194; Ando, Imperial Ideology and Provincial Loyalty in the Roman Empire (2013) 64; Bay, Biblical Heroes and Classical Culture in Christian Late Antiquity: The Historiography, Exemplarity, and Anti-Judaism of Pseudo-Hegesippus (2022) 49, 119; Ben-Eliyahu, Identity and Territory: Jewish Perceptions of Space in Antiquity (2019) 52; Bowie, Essays on Ancient Greek Literature and Culture, Volume 2: Comedy, Herodotus, Hellenistic and Imperial Greek Poetry, the Novels (2023) 856; Cohen, The Significance of Yavneh and other Essays in Jewish Hellenism (2010) 116; Jonquière, Prayer in Josephus Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity (2007) 211; Schwartz, 2 Maccabees (2008) 355 " 2.12 ἔπειθ οἱ μὲν ὡς μηδενὸς δεινοῦ γεγονότος ἐτρέποντο πρὸς θυσίαν: οὐ μὴν ̓Αρχελάῳ δίχα φόνου καθεκτὸν ἔτι τὸ πλῆθος ἐφαίνετο, τὴν δὲ στρατιὰν ἐπαφίησιν αὐτοῖς ὅλην, τοὺς μὲν πεζοὺς διὰ τῆς πόλεως ἀθρόους, τοὺς δὲ ἱππεῖς ἀνὰ τὸ πεδίον:", " 2.13 οἳ θύουσιν ἑκάστοις ἐξαίφνης προσπεσόντες διαφθείρουσι μὲν περὶ τρισχιλίους, τὸ δὲ λοιπὸν πλῆθος εἰς τὰ πλησίον ὄρη διεσκέδασαν. εἵποντο δὲ ̓Αρχελάου κήρυκες κελεύοντες ἕκαστον ἀναχωρεῖν ἐπ οἴκου, καὶ πάντες ᾤχοντο τὴν ἑορτὴν ἀπολιπόντες.", 2.14 Αὐτὸς δὲ μετὰ τῆς μητρὸς καὶ τῶν φίλων Ποπλᾶ καὶ Πτολεμαίου καὶ Νικολάου κατῄει πρὸς θάλασσαν καταλιπὼν ἐπίτροπόν τε τῶν βασιλείων καὶ κηδεμόνα τῶν οἰκείων Φίλιππον. " 2.39 Πρὶν δὲ ὁρίσαι τι περὶ τούτων Καίσαρα τελευτᾷ μὲν ἡ ̓Αρχελάου μήτηρ Μαλθακὴ νοσήσασα, παρὰ Οὐάρου δ ἐκομίσθησαν ἐκ Συρίας ἐπιστολαὶ περὶ τῆς ̓Ιουδαίων ἀποστάσεως,", 2.44 διανείμαντες δὲ σφᾶς αὐτοὺς εἰς τρία μέρη τριχῆ στρατοπεδεύονται, πρός τε τῷ βορείῳ τοῦ ἱεροῦ κλίματι καὶ πρὸς τῷ μεσημβρινῷ κατὰ τὸν ἱππόδρομον, ἡ δὲ τρίτη μοῖρα πρὸς τοῖς βασιλείοις κατὰ δύσιν. περικαθεζόμενοι δὲ πανταχόθεν τοὺς ̔Ρωμαίους ἐπολιόρκουν. 2.45 ̔Ο δὲ Σαβῖνος πρός τε τὸ πλῆθος αὐτῶν ὑποδείσας καὶ τὰ φρονήματα συνεχεῖς μὲν ἀγγέλους ἔπεμπεν πρὸς Οὔαρον ἐπαμύνειν ἐν τάχει δεόμενος ὡς εἰ βραδύνοι κατακοπησομένου τοῦ τάγματος: " 2.46 αὐτὸς δὲ ἐπὶ τὸν ὑψηλότατον τοῦ φρουρίου πύργον ἀναβάς, ὃς ἐκαλεῖτο Φασάηλος ἐπώνυμον ἔχων ἀδελφὸν ̔Ηρώδου διαφθαρέντα ὑπὸ Πάρθων, ἐντεῦθεν κατέσειεν τοῖς ἐν τῷ τάγματι στρατιώταις ἐπιχειρεῖν τοῖς πολεμίοις: δι ἔκπληξιν γὰρ οὐδ εἰς τοὺς σφετέρους καταβαίνειν ἐθάρρει.", 2.47 παραπεισθέντες δὲ οἱ στρατιῶται προπηδῶσιν εἰς τὸ ἱερὸν καὶ μάχην καρτερὰν τοῖς ̓Ιουδαίοις συνάπτουσιν, ἐν ᾗ μέχρι μὲν οὐδεὶς καθύπερθεν ἐπήμυνεν περιῆσαν ἐμπειρίᾳ πολέμου τῶν ἀπείρων: 2.48 ἐπεὶ δὲ πολλοὶ ̓Ιουδαίων ἀναβάντες ἐπὶ τὰς στοὰς κατὰ κεφαλῆς αὐτῶν ἠφίεσαν τὰ βέλη, συνετρίβοντο πολλοὶ καὶ οὔτε τοὺς ἄνωθεν βάλλοντας ἀμύνεσθαι ῥᾴδιον ἦν οὔτε τοὺς συστάδην μαχομένους ὑπομένειν. " 2.49 Καταπονούμενοι μὲν πρὸς ἀμφοτέρων ὑποπιμπρᾶσιν τὰς στοάς, ἔργα θαυμάσια μεγέθους τε καὶ πολυτελείας ἕνεκεν: οἱ δ ἐπ αὐτῶν ἐξαίφνης ὑπὸ τῆς φλογὸς περισχεθέντες πολλοὶ μὲν ἐν αὐτῇ διεφθάρησαν, πολλοὶ δὲ ὑπὸ τῶν πολεμίων πηδῶντες εἰς αὐτούς, τινὲς δ εἰς τοὐπίσω κατὰ τοῦ τείχους ἐκρημνίζοντο, ἔνιοι δ ὑπ ἀμηχανίας τοῖς ἰδίοις ξίφεσιν τὸ πῦρ ἔφθανον:", 2.12 After which they betook themselves to their sacrifices, as if they had done no mischief; nor did it appear to Archelaus that the multitude could be restrained without bloodshed; so he sent his whole army upon them, the footmen in great multitudes, by the way of the city, and the horsemen by the way of the plain, 2.13 who, falling upon them on the sudden, as they were offering their sacrifices, destroyed about three thousand of them; but the rest of the multitude were dispersed upon the adjoining mountains: these were followed by Archelaus’s heralds, who commanded every one to retire to their own homes, whither they all went, and left the festival. 2.14 1. Archelaus went down now to the seaside, with his mother and his friends, Poplas, and Ptolemy, and Nicolaus, and left behind him Philip, to be his steward in the palace, and to take care of his domestic affairs. 2.39 1. Now before Caesar had determined anything about these affairs, Malthace, Archelaus’s mother, fell sick and died. Letters also were brought out of Syria from Varus, about a revolt of the Jews. 2.44 So they distributed themselves into three parts, and pitched their camps in three places; one at the north side of the temple, another at the south side, by the Hippodrome, and the third part were at the palace on the west. So they lay round about the Romans on every side, and besieged them. 2.45 2. Now Sabinus was affrighted, both at their multitude, and at their courage, and sent messengers to Varus continually, and besought him to come to his succor quickly; for that if he delayed, his legion would be cut to pieces. 2.46 As for Sabinus himself, he got up to the highest tower of the fortress, which was called Phasaelus; it is of the same name with Herod’s brother, who was destroyed by the Parthians; and then he made signs to the soldiers of that legion to attack the enemy; for his astonishment was so great, that he durst not go down to his own men. 2.47 Hereupon the soldiers were prevailed upon, and leaped out into the temple, and fought a terrible battle with the Jews; in which, while there were none over their heads to distress them, they were too hard for them, by their skill, and the others’ want of skill, in war; 2.48 but when once many of the Jews had gotten up to the top of the cloisters, and threw their darts downwards, upon the heads of the Romans, there were a great many of them destroyed. Nor was it easy to avenge themselves upon those that threw their weapons from on high, nor was it more easy for them to sustain those who came to fight them hand to hand. 2.49 3. Since therefore the Romans were sorely afflicted by both these circumstances, they set fire to the cloisters, which were works to be admired, both on account of their magnitude and costliness. Whereupon those that were above them were presently encompassed with the flame, and many of them perished therein; as many of them also were destroyed by the enemy, who came suddenly upon them; some of them also threw themselves down from the walls backward, and some there were who, from the desperate condition they were in, prevented the fire, by killing themselves with their own swords; 2.50 but so many of them as crept out from the walls, and came upon the Romans, were easily mastered by them, by reason of the astonishment they were under; until at last some of the Jews being destroyed, and others dispersed by the terror they were in, the soldiers fell upon the treasure of God, which was now deserted, and plundered about four hundred talents, of which sum Sabinus got together all that was not carried away by the soldiers. 2.69 but as for Varus himself, he marched to Samaria with his whole army, where he did not meddle with the city itself, because he found that it had made no commotion during these troubles, but pitched his camp about a certain village which was called Arus. It belonged to Ptolemy, and on that account was plundered by the Arabians, who were very angry even at Herod’s friends also. 2.70 He thence marched on to the village Sampho, another fortified place, which they plundered, as they had done the other. As they carried off all the money they lighted upon belonging to the public revenues, all was now full of fire and bloodshed, and nothing could resist the plunders of the Arabians. 2.71 Emmaus was also burnt, upon the flight of its inhabitants, and this at the command of Varus, out of his rage at the slaughter of those that were about Arius. 2.72 2. Thence he marched on to Jerusalem, and as soon as he was but seen by the Jews, he made their camps disperse themselves; 2.73 they also went away, and fled up and down the country. But the citizens received him, and cleared themselves of having any hand in this revolt, and said that they had raised no commotions, but had only been forced to admit the multitude, because of the festival, and that they were rather besieged together with the Romans, than assisted those that had revolted. 2.74 There had before this met him Joseph, the first cousin of Archelaus, and Gratus, together with Rufus, who led those of Sebaste, as well as the king’s army: there also met him those of the Roman legion, armed after their accustomed manner; for as to Sabinus, he durst not come into Varus’s sight, but was gone out of the city before this, to the seaside. 2.75 But Varus sent a part of his army into the country, against those that had been the authors of this commotion, and as they caught great numbers of them, those that appeared to have been the least concerned in these tumults he put into custody, but such as were the most guilty he crucified; these were in number about two thousand. 2.76 3. He was also informed that there continued in Idumea ten thousand men still in arms; but when he found that the Arabians did not act like auxiliaries, but managed the war according to their own passions, and did mischief to the country otherwise than he intended, and this out of their hatred to Herod, he sent them away, but made haste, with his own legions, to march against those that had revolted; 2.77 but these, by the advice of Achiabus, delivered themselves up to him before it came to a battle. Then did Varus forgive the multitude their offenses, but sent their captains to Caesar to be examined by him. 2.78 Now Caesar forgave the rest, but gave orders that certain of the king’s relations (for some of those that were among them were Herod’s kinsmen) should be put to death, because they had engaged in a war against a king of their own family. 2.79 When therefore Varus had settled matters at Jerusalem after this manner, and had left the former legion there as a garrison, he returned to Antioch. 3.53 Nor indeed is Judea destitute of such delights as come from the sea, since its maritime places extend as far as Ptolemais: 3.354 and said, “Since it pleaseth thee, who hast created the Jewish nation, to depress the same, and since all their good fortune is gone over to the Romans, and since thou hast made choice of this soul of mine to foretell what is to come to pass hereafter, I willingly give them my hands, and am content to live. And I protest openly that I do not go over to the Romans as a deserter of the Jews, but as a minister from thee.”, 3.362 when he said thus to them:—“O my friends, why are we so earnest to kill ourselves? and why do we set our soul and body, which are such dear companions, at such variance? 3.363 Can anyone pretend that I am not the man I was formerly? Nay, the Romans are sensible how that matter stands well enough. It is a brave thing to die in war; but so that it be according to the law of war, by the hand of conquerors. 3.364 If, therefore, I avoid death from the sword of the Romans, I am truly worthy to be killed by my own sword, and my own hand; but if they admit of mercy, and would spare their enemy, how much more ought we to have mercy upon ourselves, and to spare ourselves? For it is certainly a foolish thing to do that to ourselves which we quarrel with them for doing to us. 3.365 I confess freely that it is a brave thing to die for liberty; but still so that it be in war, and done by those who take that liberty from us; but in the present case our enemies do neither meet us in battle, nor do they kill us. Now, he is equally a coward who will not die when he is obliged to die, and he who will die when he is not obliged so to do. 3.366 What are we afraid of, when we will not go up to the Romans? Is it death? 3.367 If so, what we are afraid of, when we but suspect our enemies will inflict it on us, shall we inflict it on ourselves for certain? But it may be said we must be slaves. 3.368 And are we then in a clear state of liberty at present? It may also be said that it is a manly act for one to kill himself. No, certainly, but a most unmanly one; as I should esteem that pilot to be an arrant coward, who, out of fear of a storm, should sink his ship of his own accord. 3.369 Now, self-murder is a crime most remote from the common nature of all animals, and an instance of impiety against God our Creator; 3.370 nor indeed is there any animal that dies by its own contrivance, or by its own means, for the desire of life is a law engraven in them all; on which account we deem those that openly take it away from us to be our enemies, and those that do it by treachery are punished for so doing. 3.371 And do not you think that God is very angry when a man does injury to what he hath bestowed on him? For from him it is that we have received our being, and we ought to leave it to his disposal to take that being away from us. 3.372 The bodies of all men are indeed mortal, and are created out of corruptible matter; but the soul is ever immortal, and is a portion of the divinity that inhabits our bodies. Besides, if anyone destroys or abuses a depositum he hath received from a mere man, he is esteemed a wicked and perfidious person; but then if anyone cast out of his body this Divine depositum, can we imagine that he who is thereby affronted does not know of it. 3.373 Moreover, our law justly ordains that slaves which run away from their masters shall be punished, though the masters they run away from may have been wicked masters to them. And shall we endeavor to run away from God, who is the best of all masters, and not think ourselves highly guilty of impiety? 3.374 Do not you know that those who depart out of this life, according to the law of nature, and pay that debt which was received from God, when he that lent it us is pleased to require it back again, enjoy eternal fame? that their houses and their posterity are sure, that their souls are pure and obedient, and obtain a most holy place in heaven, from whence, in the revolution of ages, they are again sent into pure bodies; 3.375 while the souls of those whose hands have acted madly against themselves are received by the darkest place in Hades, and while God, who is their Father, punishes those that offend against either of them in their posterity? 3.376 for which reason God hates such doings, and the crime is punished by our most wise legislator. 3.377 Accordingly, our laws determine that the bodies of such as kill themselves should be exposed till the sun be set, without burial, although at the same time it be allowed by them to be lawful to bury our enemies sooner. 3.378 The laws of other nations also enjoin such men’s hands to be cut off when they are dead, which had been made use of in destroying themselves when alive, while they reckoned that as the body is alien from the soul, so is the hand alien from the body. 3.379 It is therefore, my friends, a right thing to reason justly, and not add to the calamities which men bring upon us impiety towards our Creator. 3.380 If we have a mind to preserve ourselves, let us do it; for to be preserved by those our enemies, to whom we have given so many demonstrations of our courage, is no way inglorious; but if we have a mind to die, it is good to die by the hand of those that have conquered us. 3.381 For my part, I will not run over to our enemies’ quarters, in order to be a traitor to myself; for certainly I should then be much more foolish than those that deserted to the enemy, since they did it in order to save themselves, and I should do it for destruction, for my own destruction. 3.382 However, I heartily wish the Romans may prove treacherous in this matter; for if, after their offer of their right hand for security, I be slain by them, I shall die cheerfully, and carry away with me the sense of their perfidiousness, as a consolation greater than victory itself.”, 5.19 And now, “O most wretched city, what misery so great as this didst thou suffer from the Romans, when they came to purify thee from thy intestine hatred! For thou couldst be no longer a place fit for God, nor couldst thou long continue in being, after thou hadst been a sepulchre for the bodies of thy own people, and hadst made the holy house itself a burying-place in this civil war of thine. Yet mayst thou again grow better, if perchance thou wilt hereafter appease the anger of that God who is the author of thy destruction.”, 5.20 But I must restrain myself from these passions by the rules of history, since this is not a proper time for domestic lamentations, but for historical narrations; I therefore return to the operations that follow in this sedition. 6.288 3. Thus were the miserable people persuaded by these deceivers, and such as belied God himself; while they did not attend nor give credit to the signs that were so evident, and did so plainly foretell their future desolation, but, like men infatuated, without either eyes to see or minds to consider, did not regard the denunciations that God made to them. 6.289 Thus there was a star resembling a sword, which stood over the city, and a comet, that continued a whole year. 6.290 Thus also before the Jews’ rebellion, and before those commotions which preceded the war, when the people were come in great crowds to the feast of unleavened bread, on the eighth day of the month Xanthicus, Nisan, and at the ninth hour of the night, so great a light shone round the altar and the holy house, that it appeared to be bright day time; which light lasted for half an hour. 6.291 This light seemed to be a good sign to the unskillful, but was so interpreted by the sacred scribes, as to portend those events that followed immediately upon it. 6.292 At the same festival also, a heifer, as she was led by the high priest to be sacrificed, brought forth a lamb in the midst of the temple. 6.293 Moreover, the eastern gate of the inner court of the temple, which was of brass, and vastly heavy, and had been with difficulty shut by twenty men, and rested upon a basis armed with iron, and had bolts fastened very deep into the firm floor, which was there made of one entire stone, was seen to be opened of its own accord about the sixth hour of the night. 6.294 Now, those that kept watch in the temple came hereupon running to the captain of the temple, and told him of it; who then came up thither, and not without great difficulty was able to shut the gate again. 6.295 This also appeared to the vulgar to be a very happy prodigy, as if God did thereby open them the gate of happiness. But the men of learning understood it, that the security of their holy house was dissolved of its own accord, and that the gate was opened for the advantage of their enemies. 6.296 So these publicly declared that the signal foreshowed the desolation that was coming upon them. Besides these, a few days after that feast, on the one and twentieth day of the month Artemisius, Jyar, 6.297 a certain prodigious and incredible phenomenon appeared: I suppose the account of it would seem to be a fable, were it not related by those that saw it, 6.298 and were not the events that followed it of so considerable a nature as to deserve such signals; for, before sunsetting, chariots and troops of soldiers in their armor were seen, 6.299 running about among the clouds, and surrounding of cities. Moreover, at that feast which we call Pentecost, as the priests were going by night into the inner court of the temple, as their custom was, to perform their sacred ministrations, they said that, in the first place, they felt a quaking, and heard a great noise, 6.300 and after that they heard a sound as of a great multitude, saying, “Let us remove hence.” But, what is still more terrible, there was one Jesus, the son of Aus, a plebeian and a husbandman, who, four years before the war began, and at a time when the city was in very great peace and prosperity, came to that feast whereon it is our custom for everyone to make tabernacles to God in the temple, 6.301 began on a sudden to cry aloud, “A voice from the east, a voice from the west, a voice from the four winds, a voice against Jerusalem and the holy house, a voice against the bridegrooms and the brides, and a voice against this whole people!” This was his cry, as he went about by day and by night, in all the lanes of the city. 6.302 However, certain of the most eminent among the populace had great indignation at this dire cry of his, and took up the man, and gave him a great number of severe stripes; yet did not he either say anything for himself, or anything peculiar to those that chastised him, but still he went on with the same words which he cried before. 6.303 Hereupon our rulers, supposing, as the case proved to be, that this was a sort of divine fury in the man, brought him to the Roman procurator, 6.304 where he was whipped till his bones were laid bare; yet he did not make any supplication for himself, nor shed any tears, but turning his voice to the most lamentable tone possible, at every stroke of the whip his answer was, “Woe, woe to Jerusalem!”, 6.305 And when Albinus (for he was then our procurator) asked him, Who he was? and whence he came? and why he uttered such words? he made no manner of reply to what he said, but still did not leave off his melancholy ditty, till Albinus took him to be a madman, and dismissed him. 6.306 Now, during all the time that passed before the war began, this man did not go near any of the citizens, nor was seen by them while he said so; but he every day uttered these lamentable words, as if it were his premeditated vow, “Woe, woe to Jerusalem!”, 6.307 Nor did he give ill words to any of those that beat him every day, nor good words to those that gave him food; but this was his reply to all men, and indeed no other than a melancholy presage of what was to come. 6.308 This cry of his was the loudest at the festivals; and he continued this ditty for seven years and five months, without growing hoarse, or being tired therewith, until the very time that he saw his presage in earnest fulfilled in our siege, when it ceased; 6.309 for as he was going round upon the wall, he cried out with his utmost force, “Woe, woe to the city again, and to the people, and to the holy house!” And just as he added at the last, “Woe, woe to myself also!” there came a stone out of one of the engines, and smote him, and killed him immediately; and as he was uttering the very same presages he gave up the ghost. 6.310 4. Now, if anyone consider these things, he will find that God takes care of mankind, and by all ways possible foreshows to our race what is for their preservation; but that men perish by those miseries which they madly and voluntarily bring upon themselves; 6.311 for the Jews, by demolishing the tower of Antonia, had made their temple foursquare, while at the same time they had it written in their sacred oracles, “That then should their city be taken, as well as their holy house, when once their temple should become foursquare.”, 6.312 But now, what did most elevate them in undertaking this war, was an ambiguous oracle that was also found in their sacred writings, how, “about that time, one from their country should become governor of the habitable earth.”, 6.313 The Jews took this prediction to belong to themselves in particular, and many of the wise men were thereby deceived in their determination. Now, this oracle certainly denoted the government of Vespasian, who was appointed emperor in Judea. 6.314 However, it is not possible for men to avoid fate, although they see it beforehand. 6.315 But these men interpreted some of these signals according to their own pleasure, and some of them they utterly despised, until their madness was demonstrated, both by the taking of their city and their own destruction. 6.411 “We have certainly had God for our assistant in this war, and it was no other than God who ejected the Jews out of these fortifications; for what could the hands of men or any machines do towards overthrowing these towers!” |
26. Petronius Arbiter, Satyricon, 50 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: • House of Julius Polybius • Polybius, on Marcellus’ plundering of Sicily Found in books: Rutledge, Ancient Rome as a Museum: Power, Identity, and the Culture of Collecting (2012) 38; Viglietti and Gildenhard, Divination, Prediction and the End of the Roman Republic (2020) 364 50 At this the slaves burst into spontaneous applause and shouted, "God bless Gaius!" The cook too was rewarded with a drink and a silver crown, and was handed the cup on a Corinthian dish. Agamemnon began to peer at the dish rather closely, and Trimalchio said, "I am the sole owner of genuine Corinthian plate." I thought he would declare with his usual effrontery that he had cups imported direct from Corinth. But he went one better: "You may perhaps inquire," said he, "how I come to be alone in having genuine Corinthian stuff: the obvious reason is that the name of the dealer I buy it from is Corinthus. But what is real Corinthian, unless a man has Corinthus at his back? Do not imagine that I am an ignoramus. I know perfectly well how Corinthian plate was first brought into the world. At the fall of Ilium, Hannibal, a trickster and a great knave, collected all the sculptures, bronze, gold, and silver, into a single pile, and set light to them. They all melted into one amalgam of bronze. The workmen took bits out of this lump and made plates and entree dishes and statuettes. That is how Corinthian metal was born, from all sorts lumped together, neither one kind nor the other. You will forgive me if I say that personally I prefer glass; glass at least does not smell. If it were not so breakable I should prefer it to gold; as it is, it is so cheap. |
27. Pliny The Elder, Natural History, 5.9, 6.44-6.45, 6.61-6.63 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: • Polybios of Megalopolis • Polybius Found in books: Bianchetti et al., Brill’s Companion to Ancient Geography: The Inhabited World in Greek and Roman Tradition (2015) 215; Konig and Wiater, Late Hellenistic Greek Literature in Dialogue (2022) 61; König and Wiater, Late Hellenistic Greek Literature in Dialogue (2022) 61; Woolf, Tales of the Barbarians: Ethnography and Empire in the Roman West (2011) 59, 60, 61 5.9 EGYPT AND THEBAIS: Joining on to Africa is Asia, the extent of which, according to Timosthenes, from the Canopic mouth of the Nile to the mouth of the Euxine, is 2639 miles. From the mouth of the Euxine to that of Lake Maeotis is, according to Eratosthenes, 1545 miles. The whole distance to the Tanais, including Egypt, is, according to Artemidorus and Isidorus, 6375 miles. The seas of Egypt, which are several in number, have received their names from those who dwell upon their shores, for which reason they will be mentioned together.Egypt is the country which lies next to Africa; in the interior it runs in a southerly direction, as far as the territory of the Aethiopians, who lie extended at the back of it. The river Nile, dividing itself, forms on the right and left the boundary of its lower part, which it embraces on every side. By the Canopic mouth of that river it is separated from Africa, and by the Pelusiac from Asia, there being a distance between the two of 170 miles. For this reason it is that some persons have reckoned Egypt among the islands, the Nile so dividing itself as to give a triangular form to the land which it encloses: from which circumstance also many persons have named Egypt the Delta, after that of the Greek letter so called. The distance from the spot where the channel of the river first divides into branches, to the Canopic mouth, is 146 miles, and to the Pelusiac, 166.The upper part of Egypt, which borders on Aethiopia, is known as Thebais. This district is divided into prefectures of towns, which are generally designated as "Nomes." These are Ombites, Apollopolites, Hermonthites, Thinites, Phaturites, Coptites, Tentyrites, Diopolites, Antaeopolites, Aphroditopolites, and Lycopolites. The district which lies in the vicinity of Pelusium contains the following Nomes, Pharbaethites, Bubastites, Sethroites, and Tanites. The remaining Nomes are those called the Arabian; the Hammonian, which lies on the road to the oracle of Jupiter Hammon; and those known by the names of Oxyrynchites, Leontopolites, Athribites, Cynopolites, Hermopolites, Xoites, Mendesian, Sebennytes, Cabasites, Latopolites, Heliopolites, Prosopites, Panopolites, Busirites, Onuphites, Saites, Ptenethu, Phthemphu, Naucratites, Metelites, Gynaecopolites, Menelaites, — all in the region of Alexandria, besides Mareotis in Libya.Heracleopolites is a Nome on an island of the Nile, fifty miles in length, upon which there is a city, called the City of Hercules. There are two places called Arsinoites: these and Memphites extend to the apex of the Delta; adjoining to which, on the side of Africa, are the two Nomes of Oasite. Some writers vary in some of these names and substitute for them other Nomes, such as Heroopolites and Crocodilopolites. Between Arsinoites and Memphites, a lake, 250 miles, or, according to what Mucianus says, 450 miles in circumference and fifty paces deep, has been formed by artificial means: after the king by whose orders it was made, it is called by the name of Moeris. The distance from thence to Memphis is nearly sixty-two miles, a place which was formerly the citadel of the kings of Egypt; from thence to the oracle of Hammon it is twelve days journey. Memphis is fifteen miles from the spot where the river Nile divides into the different channels which we have mentioned as forming the Delta. |
28. Plutarch, Alexander The Great, 1.2 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: • Polybius Found in books: Jażdżewska and Doroszewski,Plutarch and his Contemporaries: Sharing the Roman Empire (2024) 4; Kingsley Monti and Rood, The Authoritative Historian: Tradition and Innovation in Ancient Historiography (2022) 374 1.2 οὔτε γὰρ ἱστορίας γράφομεν, ἀλλὰ βίους, οὔτε ταῖς ἐπιφανεστάταις πράξεσι πάντως ἔνεστι δήλωσις ἀρετῆς ἢ κακίας, ἀλλὰ πρᾶγμα βραχὺ πολλάκις καὶ ῥῆμα καὶ παιδιά τις ἔμφασιν ἤθους ἐποίησε μᾶλλον ἢ μάχαι μυριόνεκροι καὶ παρατάξεις αἱ μέγισται καὶ πολιορκίαι πόλεων. 1.2 For it is not Histories that I am writing, but Lives; and in the most illustrious deeds there is not always a manifestation of virtue or vice, nay, a slight thing like a phrase or a jest often makes a greater revelation of character than battles where thousands fall, or the greatest armaments, or sieges of cities. |
29. Plutarch, Cimon, 2.2-2.3 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: • Polybius Found in books: Chrysanthou, Plutarch's 'Parallel Lives': Narrative Technique and Moral Judgement (2018) 34; Van Nuffelen, Orosius and the Rhetoric of History (2012) 72 2.2 οἱ λέγοντες ὑπὲρ τῆς πόλεως ἐπεκαλοῦντο τὴν Λουκούλλου μαρτυρίαν, γράψαντος δὲ τοῦ στρατηγοῦ πρὸς Λούκουλλον ἐκεῖνος ἐμαρτύρησε τἀληθῆ, καὶ τὴν δίκην οὕτως ἀπέφυγεν ἡ πόλις κινδυνεύουσα περὶ τῶν μεγίστων. ἐκεῖνοι μὲν οὖν οἱ τότε σωθέντες εἰκόνα τοῦ Λουκούλλου λιθίνην ἐν ἀγορᾷ παρὰ τὸν Διόνυσον ἀνέστησαν, ἡμεῖς δʼ, εἰ καὶ πολλαῖς ἡλικίαις λειπόμεθα, τὴν μὲν χάριν οἰόμεθα διατείνειν καὶ πρὸς ἡμᾶς τοὺς νῦν ὄντας, 2.3 εἰκόνα δὲ πολὺ καλλίονα νομίζοντες εἶναι τῆς τὸ σῶμα καὶ τὸ πρόσωπον ἀπομιμουμένης τὴν τὸ ἦθος καὶ τὸν τρόπον ἐμφανίζουσαν, ἀναληψόμεθα τῇ γραφῇ τῶν παραλλήλων βίων τὰς πράξεις τοῦ ἀνδρός, τἀληθῆ διεξιόντες. ἀρκεῖ γὰρ ἡ τῆς μνήμης χάρις· ἀληθοῦς δὲ μαρτυρίας οὐδʼ ἂν αὐτὸς ἐκεῖνος ἠξίωσε μισθὸν λαβεῖν ψευδῆ καὶ πεπλασμένην ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ διήγησιν. " 2.2 The trial was held before the praetor of Macedonia (the Romans were not yet sending praetors to Greece), and the citys advocates invoked the testimony of Lucullus. Lucullus, when the praetor wrote to him, testified to the truth of the matter, and so the city escaped capital condemnation. Accordingly, the people who at that time were saved by him erected a marble statue of Lucullus in the market-place beside that of Dionysus. And we, though many generations removed from him, think that his favour extends even down to us who are now living;", 2.3 and since we believe that a portrait which reveals character and disposition is far more beautiful than one which merely copies form and feature, we shall incorporate this mans deeds into our parallel lives, )" onMouseOut="nd();">and we shall rehearse them truly. The mere mention of them is sufficient favour to show him; and as a return for his truthful testimony he himself surely would not deign to accept a false and garbled narrative of his career. |
30. Plutarch, On Chance, 336d, 339a, 340, 341, 341e-, 342, 343, 344, 345 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: • Polybius, and contingency Found in books: Konig and Wiater, Late Hellenistic Greek Literature in Dialogue (2022) 269, 270; König and Wiater, Late Hellenistic Greek Literature in Dialogue (2022) 269, 270 " 336d tanding at Delphi, he cried out that it stood there as a monument to Greek licentiousness; and thus if one examine either the life or the tomb of Sardanapalus (for Ithink there is no difference between them), one would say that they are a monument to the bounty of Fortune. But if this be so, shall we allow Fortune to lay hold upon Alexander after Sardanapalus, and to lay claim to Alexanders greatness and power? For what greater gift did she bestow on him than those which other monarchs received at her hands: arms, horses, missiles, money, guardsmen? Let Fortune endeavour to make an Aridaeus great by these, if she can, or an Ochus or Oarse", |
31. Plutarch, Demetrius, 2.1-2.2 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: • Polybius Found in books: Chrysanthou, Plutarch's 'Parallel Lives': Narrative Technique and Moral Judgement (2018) 49; Jażdżewska and Doroszewski,Plutarch and his Contemporaries: Sharing the Roman Empire (2024) 208 2.1 Ἀντιγόνῳ τοίνυν δυεῖν υἱῶν ἐκ Στρατονίκης τῆς Κορράγου γενομένων, τὸν μὲν ἐπὶ τἀδελφῷ Δημήτριον, τὸν δʼ ἐπὶ τῷ πατρὶ Φίλιππον ὠνόμασεν. οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ τῶν πλείστων λόγος. ἔνιοι δὲ τὸν Δημήτριον οὐχ υἱόν, ἀλλʼ ἀδελφιδοῦν γενέσθαι τοῦ Ἀντιγόνου λέγουσιν· ἐπὶ νηπίῳ γὰρ αὐτῷ παντάπασι τοῦ πατρὸς τελευτήσαντος, εἶτα τῆς μητρὸς εὐθὺς τῷ Ἀντιγόνῳ γαμηθείσης, υἱὸν ἐκείνου νομισθῆναι. 2.2 τὸν μὲν οὖν Φίλιππον οὐ πολλοῖς ἔτεσι τοῦ Δημητρίου νεώτερον ὄντα συνέβη τελευτῆσαι· Δημήτριος δὲ μεγέθει μὲν ἦν τοῦ πατρὸς ἐλάττων, καίπερ ὢν μέγας, ἰδέᾳ δὲ καὶ κάλλει προσώπου θαυμαστὸς καὶ περιττός, ὥστε τῶν πλαττόντων καὶ γραφόντων μηθένα τῆς ὁμοιότητος ἐφικέσθαι. τὸ γὰρ αὐτὸ χάριν καὶ βάρος καὶ φόβον καὶ ὥραν εἶχε, καὶ συνεκέκρατο τῷ νεαρῷ καὶ ἰταμῷ δυσμίμητος ἡρωϊκή τις ἐπιφάνεια καὶ βασιλικὴ σεμνότης. 2.1 To begin, then, Antigonus had two sons by Stratonicé the daughter of Corrhagus, one of whom he named Demetrius, after his brother, and the other Philip, after his father. This is what the majority of writers say. But some have it that Demetrius was not the son, but the nephew of Antigonus; for his own father died when the boy was quite young, and then his mother immediately married Antigonus, so that Demetrius was considered to be his son. 2.2 Well, then, Philip, who was afew years younger than Demetrius, died. Demetrius, the surviving son, had not the height of his father, though he was a tall man, but he had features of rare and astonishing beauty, so that no painter or sculptor ever achieved a likeness of him. They had at once grace and strength, dignity and beauty, and there was blended with their youthful eagerness a certain heroic look and a kingly majesty that were hard to imitate. |
32. Plutarch, Demosthenes, 2.1-2.2 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: • Polybius • medicine and medical discourse, Polybius on Found in books: Ayres and Ward, The Rise of the Early Christian Intellectual (2021) 27; Chrysanthou, Plutarch's 'Parallel Lives': Narrative Technique and Moral Judgement (2018) 49; Jażdżewska and Doroszewski,Plutarch and his Contemporaries: Sharing the Roman Empire (2024) 208 2.1 τῷ μέντοι σύνταξιν ὑποβεβλημένῳ καὶ ἱστορίαν ἐξ οὐ προχείρων οὐδʼ οἰκείων, ἀλλὰ ξένων τε τῶν πολλῶν καὶ διεσπαρμένων ἐν ἑτέροις συνιοῦσαν ἀναγνωσμάτων, τῷ ὄντι χρὴ πρῶτον ὑπάρχειν καὶ μάλιστα τὴν πόλιν εὐδόκιμον καὶ φιλόκαλον καὶ πολυάνθρωπον, ὡς βιβλίων τε παντοδαπῶν ἀφθονίαν ἔχων, καὶ ὅσα τοὺς γράφοντας διαφύγοντα σωτηρίᾳ μνήμης ἐπιφανεστέραν εἴληφε πίστιν ὑπολαμβάνων ἀκοῇ καὶ διαπυνθανόμενος, μὴ πολλῶν μηδʼ ἀναγκαίων ἐνδεὲς ἀποδιδοίη τὸ ἔργον. 2.2 ἡμεῖς δὲ μικρὰν οἰκοῦντες πόλιν, καὶ ἵνα μὴ μικροτέρα γένηται φιλοχωροῦντες, ἐν δὲ Ῥώμῃ καὶ ταῖς περὶ τὴν Ἰταλίαν διατριβαῖς οὐ σχολῆς οὔσης γυμνάζεσθαι περὶ τὴν Ῥωμαϊκὴν διάλεκτον ὑπὸ χρειῶν πολιτικῶν καὶ τῶν διὰ φιλοσοφίαν πλησιαζόντων, ὀψέ ποτε καὶ πόρρω τῆς ἡλικίας ἠρξάμεθα Ῥωμαϊκοῖς γράμμασιν ἐντυγχάνειν. 2.1 However, when one has undertaken to compose a history based upon readings which are not readily accessible or even found at home, but in foreign countries, for the most part, and scattered about among different owners, for him it is really necessary, first and above all things, that he should live in a city which is famous, friendly to the liberal arts, and populous, in order that he may have all sorts of books in plenty, and may by hearsay and enquiry come into possession of all those details which elude writers and are preserved with more conspicuous fidelity in the memories of men. 2.2 He will thus be prevented from publishing a work which is deficient in many, and even in essential things. But as for me, Ilive in a small city, and Iprefer to dwell there that it may not become smaller still; and during the time when Iwas in Rome and various parts of Italy Ihad no leisure to practise myself in the Roman language, owing to my public duties and the number of my pupils in philosophy. It was therefore late and when Iwas well on in years that Ibegan to study Roman literature. And here my experience was an astonishing thing, but true. |
33. Plutarch, Fabius, 2.4-2.7 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: • Polybius • Polybius, and contingency Found in books: Farrell, Juno's Aeneid: A Battle for Heroic Identity (2021) 181; Konig and Wiater, Late Hellenistic Greek Literature in Dialogue (2022) 263; König and Wiater, Late Hellenistic Greek Literature in Dialogue (2022) 263; Welch, Tarpeia: Workings of a Roman Myth (2015) 74 2.4 τὸν μὲν ὕπατον Γάιον Φλαμίνιον οὐδὲν ἤμβλυνε τούτων, ἄνδρα πρὸς τῷ φύσει θυμοειδεῖ καὶ φιλοτίμῳ μεγάλαις ἐπαιρόμενον εὐτυχίαις, ἃς πρόσθεν εὐτύχησε παραλόγως, τῆς τε βουλῆς ἀπᾳδούσης ἀπᾳδούσης with CS: ἀποκαλούσης . καὶ τοῦ συνάρχοντος ἐνισταμένου βίᾳ συμβαλὼν τοῖς Γαλάταις καὶ κρατήσας, Φάβιον δὲ τὰ μὲν σημεῖα, καίπερ ἁπτόμενα πολλῶν, ἧττον ὑπέθραττε διὰ τὴν ἀλογίαν·, 2.5 τὴν δʼ ὀλιγότητα τῶν πολεμίων καὶ τὴν ἀχρηματίαν πυνθανόμενος καρτερεῖν παρεκάλει τοὺς Ῥωμαίους καὶ μὴ μάχεσθαι πρὸς ἄνθρωπον ἐπʼ αὐτῷ τούτῳ διὰ πολλῶν ἀγώνων ἠσκημένῃ στρατιᾷ χρώμενον, ἀλλὰ τοῖς συμμάχοις ἐπιπέμποντας βοηθείας καὶ τὰς πόλεις διὰ χειρὸς ἔχοντας αὐτὴν ἐᾶν περὶ αὑτῇ μαραίνεσθαι τὴν ἀκμὴν τοῦ Ἀννίβου, καθάπερ φλόγα λάμψασαν ἀπὸ μικρᾶς καὶ κούφης δυνάμεως. 2.4 The consul, Gaius Flaminius, was daunted by none of these things, for he was a man of a fiery and ambitious nature, and besides, he was elated by great successes which he had won before this, in a manner contrary to all expectation. He had, namely, although the senate dissented from his plan, and his colleague violently opposed it, joined battle with the Gauls and defeated them. Fabius also was less disturbed by the signs and portents, because he thought it would be absurd, although they had great effect upon many. 2.5 But when he learned how few in number the enemy were, and how great was their lack of resources, he exhorted the Romans to bide their time, and not to give battle to a man who wielded an army trained by many contests for this very issue, but to send aid to their allies, to keep their subject cities well in hand, and to suffer the culminating vigour of Hannibal to sink and expire of itself, like a flame that flares up from scant and slight material. 21 The city of Tarentum, which had been lost to the Romans by treachery, 212 B.C. Fabius recovered in the following manner. 209 B.C. There was a young man of Tarentum in his army, and he had a sister who was very faithfully and affectionately disposed towards him. With this woman the commander of the forces set by Hannibal to guard the city, a Bruttian, was deeply enamoured, and the circumstance led her brother to hope that he could accomplish something by means of it. He therefore joined his sister in Tarentum, ostensibly as a deserter from the Romans, though he was really sent into the city by Fabius, who was privy to his scheme.Some days passed, accordingly, during which the Bruttian remained at home, since the woman thought that her amour was unknown to her brother. Then her brother had the following words with her: I would have you know that a story was very current out there in the Roman camp that you have interviews with a man high in authority. Who is this man? For if he is, as they say, a man of repute, and illustrious for his valour, war, that confounder of all things, makes very little account of race. Nothing is disgraceful if it is done under compulsion, nay, we may count it rare good fortune, at a time when right is weak, to find might very gentle with us.Thereupon the woman sent for her Bruttian and made her brother acquainted with him. The Barbarian’s confidence was soon gained, since the brother fostered his passion and plainly induced the sister to be more complacent and submissive to him than before, so that it was not difficult, the man being a lover and a mercenary as well, to change his allegiance, in anticipation of the large gifts which it was promised that he should receive from Fabius.This is the way the story is usually told. So, substantially, by Livy, xxvii. 15. But some writers say that the woman by whom the Bruttian was won over, was not a Tarentine, but a Bruttian, and a concubine of Fabius, and that when she learned that the commander of the Bruttian garrison was a fellow-countryman and an acquaintance of hers, she told Fabius, held a conference with the man beneath the walls of the city, and won him completely over. |
34. Plutarch, Lucullus, 42.1-42.2 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: • Polybios of Megalopolis • Polybius Found in books: Jażdżewska and Doroszewski,Plutarch and his Contemporaries: Sharing the Roman Empire (2024) 218, 220; Woolf, Tales of the Barbarians: Ethnography and Empire in the Roman West (2011) 70 42.1 σπουδῆς δʼ ἄξια καὶ λόγου τὰ περὶ τὴν τῶν βιβλίων κατασκευήν, καὶ γὰρ πολλὰ καὶ γεγραμμένα καλῶς συνῆγεν, ἥ τε χρῆσις ἦν φιλοτιμοτέρα τῆς κτήσεως, ἀνειμένων πᾶσι τῶν βιβλιοθηκῶν, καὶ τῶν περὶ αὐτὰς περιπάτων καὶ σχολαστηρίων ἀκωλύτως ὑποδεχομένων τοὺς Ἕλληνας ὥσπερ εἰς Μουσῶν τι καταγώγιον ἐκεῖσε φοιτῶντας καὶ συνδιημερεύοντας ἀλλήλοις, ἀπὸ τῶν ἄλλων χρειῶν ἀσμένως ἀποτρέχοντας. 42.2 πολλάκις δὲ καὶ συνεσχόλαζεν αὐτὸς ἐμβάλλων εἰς τοὺς περιπάτους τοῖς φιλολόγοις καὶ τοῖς πολιτικοῖς συνέπραττεν ὅτου δέοιντο· καὶ ὅλως ἑστία καὶ πρυτανεῖον Ἑλληνικὸν ὁ οἶκος ἦν αὐτοῦ τοῖς ἀφικνουμένοις εἰς Ῥώμην. φιλοσοφίαν δὲ πᾶσαν μὲν ἠσπάζετο καὶ πρὸς πᾶσαν εὐμενὴς ἦν καὶ οἰκεῖος, ἴδιον δὲ τῆς Ἀκαδημείας ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἔρωτα καὶ ζῆλον ἔσχεν, οὐ τῆς νέας λεγομένης, 42.1 But what he did in the establishment of a library deserves warm praise. He got togetherthru 80years of reprintings! âx80x94 has to ether with a 2âx80x91letter space between the words,WIDTH,160)" onMouseOut="nd();">º many books, and they were well written, and his use of them was more honourable to him than his acquisition of them. His libraries were thrown open to all, and the cloisters surrounding them, and the study-rooms, were accessible without restriction to the Greeks, who constantly repaired thither as to an hostelry of the Muses, and spent the day with one another, in glad escape from their other occupations. 42.2 Lucullus himself also often spent his leisure hours there with them, walking about in the cloisters with their scholars, and he would assist their statesmen in whatever they desired. And in general his house was a home and prytaneium for the Greeks who came to Rome. He was fond of all philosophy, and well-disposed and friendly towards every school, but from the first he cherished a particular and zealous love for the Academy, |
35. Plutarch, Pericles, 18.1, 22.1, 28.2-28.3 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: • Polybios • Polybius • Polybius, and contingency Found in books: Chaniotis, Unveiling Emotions III: Arousal, Display, and Performance of Emotions in the Greek World (2021) 249; Chrysanthou, Plutarch's 'Parallel Lives': Narrative Technique and Moral Judgement (2018) 165; Konig and Wiater, Late Hellenistic Greek Literature in Dialogue (2022) 263; König and Wiater, Late Hellenistic Greek Literature in Dialogue (2022) 263 18.1 ἐν δὲ ταῖς στρατηγίαις εὐδοκίμει μάλιστα διὰ τὴν ἀσφάλειαν, οὔτε μάχης ἐχούσης πολλὴν ἀδηλότητα καὶ κίνδυνον ἑκουσίως ἁπτόμενος, οὔτε τοὺς ἐκ τοῦ παραβάλλεσθαι χρησαμένους τύχῃ λαμπρᾷ καὶ θαυμασθέντας ὡς μεγάλους ζηλῶν καὶ μιμούμενος στρατηγούς, ἀεί τε λέγων πρὸς τοὺς πολίτας ὡς ὅσον ἐπʼ αὐτῷ μενοῦσιν ἀθάνατοι πάντα τὸν χρόνον. 22.1 ὅτι δʼ ὀρθῶς ἐν τῇ Ἑλλάδι τὴν δύναμιν τῶν Ἀθηναίων συνεῖχεν, ἐμαρτύρησεν αὐτῷ τὰ γενόμενα. πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ Εὐβοεῖς ἀπέστησαν, ἐφʼ οὓς διέβη μετὰ δυνάμεως. εἶτʼ εὐθὺς ἀπηγγέλλοντο Μεγαρεῖς ἐκπεπολεμωμένοι καὶ στρατιὰ πολεμίων ἐπὶ τοῖς ὅροις τῆς Ἀττικῆς οὖσα, Πλειστώνακτος ἡγουμένου, βασιλέως Λακεδαιμονίων. 28.2 ἀλλʼ οὐδʼ ἀληθεύειν ἔοικεν, ὡς ἄρα τοὺς τριηράρχους καὶ τοὺς ἐπιβάτας τῶν Σαμίων εἰς τὴν Μιλησίων ἀγορὰν καταγαγὼν καταγαγὼν Fuhr and Blass, with F a S: ἀγαγών . καὶ σανίσι προσδήσας ἐφʼ ἡμέρας δέκα κακῶς ἤδη διακειμένους προσέταξεν ἀνελεῖν, ξύλοις τὰς κεφαλὰς συγκόψαντας, εἶτα προβαλεῖν ἀκήδευτα τὰ σώματα. 28.3 Δοῦρις μὲν οὖν οὐδʼ ὅπου μηδὲν αὐτῷ πρόσεστιν ἴδιον πάθος εἰωθὼς κρατεῖν τὴν διήγησιν ἐπὶ τῆς ἀληθείας, μᾶλλον ἔοικεν ἐνταῦθα δεινῶσαι τὰς τῆς πατρίδος συμφορὰς ἐπὶ διαβολῇ τῶν Ἀθηναίων. ὁ δὲ Περικλῆς καταστρεψάμενος τὴν Σάμον ὡς ἐπανῆλθεν εἰς τὰς Ἀθήνας, ταφάς τε τῶν ἀποθανόντων κατὰ τὸν πόλεμον ἐνδόξους ἐποίησε καὶ τὸν λόγον εἰπών, ὥσπερ ἔθος ἐστίν, ἐπὶ τῶν σημάτων ἐθαυμαστώθη. 18.1 In his capacity as general, he was famous above all things for his saving caution; he neither undertook of his own accord a battle involving much uncertainty and peril, nor did he envy and imitate those who took great risks, enjoyed brilliant good-fortune, and so were admired as great generals; and he was for ever saying to his fellow-citizens that, so far as lay in his power, they would remain alive forever and be immortals. 22.1 That he was right in seeking to confine the power of the Athenians within lesser Greece, was amply proved by what came to pass. To begin with, the Euboeans revolted, 446. B.C. and he crossed over to the island with a hostile force. Then straightway word was brought to him that the Megarians had gone over to the enemy, and that an army of the enemy was on the confines of Attica under the leadership of Pleistoanax, the king of the Lacedaemonians. 28.2 But he appears not to speak the truth when he says, forsooth, that Pericles had the Samian trierarchs and marines brought into the market-place of Miletus and crucified there, and that then, when they had already suffered grievously for ten days, he gave orders to break their heads in with clubs and make an end of them, and then cast their bodies forth without burial rites. 28.3 At all events, since it is not the wont of Duris, even in cases where he has no private and personal interest, to hold his narrative down to the fundamental truth, it is all the more likely that here, in this instance, he has given a dreadful portrayal of the calamities of his country, that he might calumniate the Athenians. When Pericles, after his subjection of Samos, had returned to Athens, he gave honorable burial to those who had fallen in the war, and for the oration which he made, according to the custom, over their tombs, he won the greatest admiration. |
36. Lucian, How To Write History, 55 (2nd cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: • Polybius Found in books: Chrysanthou, Reconfiguring the Imperial Past: Narrative Patterns and Historical Interpretation in Herodian’s History of the Empire (2022) 314; Schwartz, 2 Maccabees (2008) 180 55 After the preface, long or short in proportion to the subject, should come an easy natural transition to the narrative; for the body of the history which remains is nothing from beginning to end but a long narrative; it must therefore be graced with the narrative virtues — smooth, level, and consistent progress, neither soaring nor crawling, and the charm of lucidity — which is attained, as I remarked above, partly by the diction, and partly by the treatment of connected events. For, though all parts must be independently perfected, when the first is complete the second will be brought into essential connexion with it, and attached like one link of a chain to another; there must be no possibility of separating them; no mere bundle of parallel threads; the first is not simply to be next to the second, but part of it, their extremities intermingling. |
37. Pausanias, Description of Greece, 1.4.4, 8.30.8 (2nd cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: • Polybius • Polybius of Megalopolis • Polybius, Histories • Polybius, on Scipio • disparagement, of Gauls by Polybius Found in books: Blum and Biggs, The Epic Journey in Greek and Roman Literature (2019) 218; Gagne, Cosmography and the Idea of Hyperborea in Ancient Greece (2021), 191; Gruen, Ethnicity in the Ancient World - Did it matter (2020) 57; Konig, The Folds of Olympus: Mountains in Ancient Greek and Roman Culture (2022) 360; Roller, A Guide to the Geography of Pliny the Elder (2022) 254 1.4.4 οὗτοι μὲν δὴ τοὺς Ἕλληνας τρόπον τὸν εἰρημένον ἔσωζον, οἱ δὲ Γαλάται Πυλῶν τε ἐντὸς ἦσαν καὶ τὰ πολίσματα ἑλεῖν ἐν οὐδενὶ τὰ λοιπὰ ποιησάμενοι Δελφοὺς καὶ τὰ χρήματα. τοῦ θεοῦ διαρπάσαι μάλιστα εἶχον σπουδήν. καί σφισιν αὐτοί τε Δελφοὶ καὶ Φωκέων ἀντετάχθησαν οἱ τὰς πόλεις περὶ τὸν Παρνασσὸν οἰκοῦντες, ἀφίκετο δὲ καὶ δύναμις Αἰτωλῶν· τὸ γὰρ Αἰτωλικὸν προεῖχεν ἀκμῇ νεότητος τὸν χρόνον τοῦτον. ὡς δὲ ἐς χεῖρας συνῄεσαν, ἐνταῦθα κεραυνοί τε ἐφέροντο ἐς τοὺς Γαλάτας καὶ ἀπορραγεῖσαι πέτραι τοῦ Παρνασσοῦ, δείματά τε ἄνδρες ἐφίσταντο ὁπλῖται τοῖς βαρβάροις· τούτων τοὺς μὲν ἐξ Ὑπερβορέων λέγουσιν ἐλθεῖν, Ὑπέροχον καὶ Ἀμάδοκον, τὸν δὲ τρίτον Πύρρον εἶναι τὸν Ἀχιλλέως· ἐναγίζουσι δὲ ἀπὸ ταύτης Δελφοὶ τῆς συμμαχίας Πύρρῳ, πρότερον ἔχοντες ἅτε ἀνδρὸς πολεμίου καὶ τὸ μνῆμα ἐν ἀτιμίᾳ. 8.30.8 Μεγαλοπολίταις δὲ ἐπὶ τῆς ἀγορᾶς ἐστιν ὄπισθεν τοῦ περιβόλου τοῦ ἀνειμένου τῷ Λυκαίῳ Διὶ ἀνὴρ ἐπειργασμένος ἐπὶ στήλῃ, Πολύβιος Λυκόρτα· γέγραπται δὲ καὶ ἐλεγεῖα ἐπʼ αὐτῷ λέγοντα ὡς ἐπὶ γῆν καὶ θάλασσαν πᾶσαν πλανηθείη, καὶ ὅτι σύμμαχος γένοιτο Ῥωμαίων καὶ παύσειεν αὐτοὺς ὀργῆς τῆς ἐς τὸ Ἑλληνικόν. συνέγραψε δὲ ὁ Πολύβιος οὗτος καὶ ἄλλα ἔργα Ῥωμαίων καὶ ὡς Καρχηδονίοις κατέστησαν ἐς πόλεμον, αἰτία τε ἥτις ἐγένετο αὐτοῦ καὶ ὡς ὀψὲ 1.4.4 So they tried to save Greece in the way described, but the Gauls, now south of the Gates, cared not at all to capture the other towns, but were very eager to sack Delphi and the treasures of the god. They were opposed by the Delphians themselves and the Phocians of the cities around Parnassus ; a force of Aetolians also joined the defenders, for the Aetolians at this time were pre-eminent for their vigorous activity. When the forces engaged, not only were thunderbolts and rocks broken off from Parnassus hurled against the Gauls, but terrible shapes as armed warriors haunted the foreigners. They say that two of them, Hyperochus and Amadocus, came from the Hyperboreans, and that the third was Pyrrhus son of Achilles. Because of this help in battle the Delphians sacrifice to Pyrrhus as to a hero, although formerly they held even his tomb in dishonor, as being that of an enemy. 8.30.8 In the marketplace of that city, behind the enclosure sacred to Lycaean Zeus, is the figure of a man carved in relief on a slab, Polybius, the son of Lycortas. Elegiac verses are inscribed upon it saying that he roamed over every land and every sea, and that he became the ally of the Itomans and stayed their wrath against the Greek nation. This Polybius wrote also a history of the Romans, including how they went to war with Carthage, what the cause of the war was, and how at last, not before great dangers had been run, Scipio . . whom they name Carthaginian, because he put an end to the war and razed Carthage to the ground. |
38. Pliny The Younger, Letters, 5.8.13 (2nd cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: • Polybius Found in books: Ando, Imperial Ideology and Provincial Loyalty in the Roman Empire (2013) 122; Chrysanthou, Reconfiguring the Imperial Past: Narrative Patterns and Historical Interpretation in Herodian’s History of the Empire (2022) 6 NA> |
39. Orosius Paulus, Historiae Adversum Paganos, 4.13.6 (4th cent. CE - 5th cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: • Polybius Found in books: Van Nuffelen, Orosius and the Rhetoric of History (2012) 72; Welch, Tarpeia: Workings of a Roman Myth (2015) 68 NA> |
40. Anon., Letter of Aristeas, 3, 11, 15, 31, 182 Tagged with subjects: • Polybios, historian, view of Alexandria • Polybius Found in books: Schwartz, 2 Maccabees (2008) 180; Stavrianopoulou, Shifting Social Imaginaries in the Hellenistic Period: Narrations, Practices and Images (2013) 229; Wright, The Letter of Aristeas: 'Aristeas to Philocrates' or 'On the Translation of the Law of the Jews' (2015) 108, 316 3 It was my devotion to the pursuit of religious knowledge that led me to undertake the embassy to the man I have mentioned, who was held in the highest esteem by his own citizens and by others both for his virtue and his majesty and who had in his possession documents of the highest value to the Jews in his own country and in foreign lands for the interpretation of the divine law, for their, " 11 your library. What is to prevent you from doing this? replied the king. Everything that is necessary has been placed at your disposal. They need to be translated, answered Demetrius, for in the country of the Jews they use a peculiar alphabet (just as the Egyptians, too, have a special form of letters) and speak a peculiar dialect. They are supposed to use the Syriac tongue, but this is not the case; their language is quite different. And the king when he understood all the facts of the case ordered a letter to be written to the Jewish High Priest that his purpose (which has already been described) might be accomplished." 15 our deeds to give the lie to our words. Since the law which we wish not only to transcribe but also to translate belongs to the whole Jewish race, what justification shall we be able to find for our embassy while such vast numbers of them remain in a state of slavery in your kingdom? In the perfection and wealth of your clemency release those who are held in such miserable bondage, since as I have been at pains to discover, the God who gave them their law is the God who maintains your kingdom. They worship the same God - the Lord and Creator of the Universe, as all other men, as we ourselves, O king, though we call him by different names, such as Zeus or, 31 informed by those who know; for they have never had a kings care to protect them. It is necessary that these should be made accurate for your library since the law which they contain, in as much as it is of divine origin, is full of wisdom and free from all blemish. For this reason literary men and poets and the mass of historical writers have held aloof from referring to these books and the men who have lived and are living in accordance with them, because their", " 182 And Nicanor summoned the lord high steward, Dorotheus, who was the special officer appointed to look after the Jews, and commanded him to make the necessary preparation for each one. For this arrangement had been made by the king and it is an arrangement which you see maintained to-day. For as many cities (as) have (special) customs in the matter of drinking, eating, and reclining, have special officers appointed to look after their requirements. And whenever they come to visit the kings, preparations are made in accordance with their own customs, in order that there may be no discomfort to disturb the enjoyment of their visit. The same precaution was taken in the case of the Jewish envoys. Now Dorotheus who was the patron appointed to look after Jewish guests wa, |
41. Epigraphy, Illrp, 454 Tagged with subjects: • Polybius Found in books: Konig and Wiater, Late Hellenistic Greek Literature in Dialogue (2022) 65; König and Wiater, Late Hellenistic Greek Literature in Dialogue (2022) 65 NA> |