Polyperchon's Decree Freeing the Greek Cities — Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica Book 18 (18.55.1–18.55.4), Greek & English

§18.55.1

ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις κατὰ μὲν τὴν Μακεδονίαν Πολυπέρχων ὁ τῶν βασιλέων ἐπιμελητὴς μετὰ τὴν ἀπαλλαγὴν τοῦ Κασάνδρου προεώρα μὲν τὸ μέγεθος τοῦ πρὸς Κάσανδρον ἐσομένου πολέμου, οὐδὲν δʼ ἄνευ τῆς τῶν φίλων γνώμης κρίνων πράττειν¹ συνήγαγε τούς τε ἡγεμόνας ἅπαντας καὶ τῶν ἄλλων Μακεδόνων τοὺς ἀξιολογωτάτους.

While these things were being done, in Macedonia, Polyperchon, the guardian of the kings, after the departure of Cassander, foresaw the magnitude of the war that would be waged against Cassander; but deciding to do nothing without the opinion of his friends, he gathered all the commanders and the most noteworthy of the other Macedonians.

§18.55.2

φανεροῦ δʼ ὄντος ὅτι² Κάσανδρος μὲν σωματοποιηθεὶς ὑπʼ Ἀντιγόνου τῶν κατὰ τὴν Ἑλλάδα πόλεων ἀνθέξεται διὰ τὸ τὰς μὲν αὐτῶν πατρικαῖς φρουραῖς φυλάττεσθαι, τὰς δʼ ὑπʼ ὀλιγαρχιῶν διοικεῖσθαι, κυριευομένας ὑπὸ τῶν Ἀντιπάτρου φίλων καὶ ξένων, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις συμμαχήσειν τῷ Κασάνδρῳ Πτολεμαῖόν τε τὸν Αἰγύπτου κρατοῦντα καὶ Ἀντίγονον τὸν φανερῶς ἤδη γενόμενον ἀποστάτην τῶν βασιλέων, ἀμφοτέρους δὲ καὶ δυνάμεις μεγάλας καὶ χρημάτων ἔχειν πλῆθος, ἔτι δὲ πολλῶν ἐθνῶν καὶ πόλεων ἀξιολόγων κυριεύειν — προτεθείσης οὖν βουλῆς πῶς τούτοις πολεμητέον ἐστὶ καὶ πολλῶν καὶ ποικίλων λόγων περὶ τοῦ πολέμου ῥηθέντων ἔδοξεν αὐτοῖς τὰς μὲν κατὰ τὴν Ἑλλάδα πόλεις ἐλευθεροῦν, τὰς δʼ ἐν αὐταῖς ὀλιγαρχίας καθεσταμένας ὑπʼ Ἀντιπάτρου καταλύειν·

Since it was clear that Cassander, having been strengthened with military force by Antigonus, would hold fast to the cities in Greece, because some of them were guarded by his father’s garrisons and others were administered by oligarchies under the control of Antipater’s friends and guest-friends; and in addition to these, that Ptolemy, who ruled Egypt, and Antigonus, who had already openly become a rebel against the kings, would ally with Cassander, and that both possessed great forces and an abundance of money, and furthermore ruled over many noteworthy nations and cities—when, therefore, a consultation was proposed as to how they should wage war against these men, and many diverse speeches concerning the war had been made, it was decided by them to free the cities in Greece and to dissolve the oligarchies established in them by Antipater.

§18.55.3

οὕτως γὰρ ἂν μάλιστα τὸν μὲν Κάσανδρον ταπεινώσειν,³ ἑαυτοῖς δὲ μεγάλην δόξαν καὶ πολλὰς συμμαχίας ἀξιολόγους περιποιήσειν.

For in this way they believed they would especially humiliate Cassander and acquire great glory and many noteworthy alliances for themselves.

§18.55.4

εὐθὺς οὖν τοὺς ἀπὸ τῶν πόλεων παρόντας πρεσβευτὰς προσκαλεσάμενοι καὶ θαρρεῖν παρακαλέσαντες ἐπηγγείλαντο τὰς δημοκρατίας ἀποκαταστήσειν ταῖς πόλεσι καὶ τὸ κυρωθὲν δόγμα γράψαντες ἔδωκαν τοῖς πρεσβευταῖς, ὅπως κατὰ τάχος εἰς τὰς πατρίδας ἐπανελθόντες ἀπαγγείλωσι τοῖς δήμοις τὴν τῶν βασιλέων καὶ τῶν ἡγεμόνων εἰς τοὺς Ἕλληνας εὔνοιαν. ἦν δὲ τὸ διάγραμμα τοιοῦτον.

Therefore, immediately summoning the envoys present from the cities and encouraging them to be of good cheer, they promised to restore the democracies to the cities, and having written down the ratified decree, they gave it to the envoys so that, returning to their native lands with speed, they might report to the citizenries the goodwill of the kings and the commanders toward the Greeks. And the decree was as follows.

Syntax notes3 items

18.55.1κρίνων πράττειν
The participle κρίνων with the negative οὐδέν governs the infinitive πράττειν. The verb κρίνω with an infinitive means 'to decide to do' or 'to judge it right to do', here meaning 'deciding/judging it right to do nothing without the opinion of his friends.'
18.55.2φανεροῦ δʼ ὄντος ὅτι
The impersonal genitive absolute φανεροῦ δʼ ὄντος ('it being clear that') is followed by an ὅτι clause, which then transitions into accusative-and-infinitive constructions (συμμαχήσειν... Πτολεμαῖόν τε... καὶ Ἀντίγονον and ἀμφοτέρους... ἔχειν). This mixed construction still functions as the subject of 'it being clear.' The main clause of the entire sentence is ἔδοξεν αὐτοῖς ('it was decided by them'), which appears after further genitive absolutes.
18.55.3ἂν μάλιστα ... ταπεινώσειν
The particle ἄν accompanies the future infinitives ταπεινώσειν and περιποιήσειν. Although the combination of ἄν with a future infinitive is extremely rare and grammatically disputed in classical Attic, it appears in Hellenistic Greek (Koine) and manuscript traditions to express a potential or highly probable future outcome. It represents the indirect discourse depending on the implied thought from ἔδοξεν αὐτοῖς in the preceding clause.

Translated by Gemini 3.5 Flash (published 2026-05-25)urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0060.tlg001.humanitext-grc6:18.55.1-18.55.4