- Source
- Diodorus Siculus. Diodori Bibliotheca Historica. Vols. 4-5 (partial). Bekker, Immanuel; Dindorf, Ludwig; Fischer, Curt Theodor; editors. Leipzig: Teubner, 1903-1906.
- Translation
- AI-generated (gemini-3.5-flash) — machine translation; may contain errors
- Languages
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- CTS URN
- urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0060.tlg001.humanitext-grc6:19.29.1-19.29.7
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-10
Antigonus, countering the enemy's strong right wing, deploys highly mobile light cavalry on his left and concentrates his elite forces on his right. He then advances in an oblique order, pushing forward his strong right wing while holding back his left.
Ἀντίγονος δʼ ἐκ μετεώρων τόπων κατιδὼν τὴν τῶν πολεμίων τάξιν πρὸς ταύτην ἁρμοζόντως διεκόσμησε τὴν ἰδίαν δύναμιν. ὁρῶν γὰρ τὸ τῶν ἐναντίων δεξιὸν κέρας ὠχυρωμένον τοῖς τε θηρίοις καὶ τοῖς κρατίστοις τῶν ἱππέων ἀντέταξε τοὺς ἐλαφροτάτους τῶν ἱππέων, οἳ κατὰ στόμα μὲν ἤμελλον φυγομαχήσειν ἀραιοὶ διαστάντες, ἐκ μεταβολῆς δὲ διαγωνιεῖσθαι καὶ τούτῳ τῷ τρόπῳ ποιήσειν ἄπρακτον τῶν ἐναντίων τοῦτο τὸ μέρος ᾧ μάλιστα ἐπίστευον.1
Antigonus, having looked down upon the array of the enemy from high ground, marshalled his own force in conformity with it. For, seeing that the right wing of the adversaries was strengthened by the beasts and by the strongest of the cavalry, he opposed to it the lightest of his cavalry, who were intended to avoid close combat by standing at wide intervals in the front, but to fight by wheeling about, and in this manner to render ineffectual that part of the enemy in which they trusted most.
ἔστησε δʼ ἐπὶ ταύτης τῆς φάλαγγος2 τούς τε ἐκ Μηδίας καὶ Παρθυαίας ἀφιπποτοξότας καὶ λογχοφόρους, ὄντας μὲν χιλίους, πεφυκότας δʼ εὖ πρὸς τὴν ἐκ μεταβολῆς κρίσιν, ἑξῆς δὲ τοὺς ἀπὸ θαλάσσης συναναβεβηκότας Ταραντίνους δισχιλίους καὶ διακοσίους, ἐπιλέκτους ἐν ἐνέδραις καὶ καλῶς διακειμένους ταῖς εὐνοίαις πρὸς αὐτόν, τοὺς δʼ ἀπὸ Φρυγίας καὶ Λυδίας χιλίους, τοὺς δὲ μετὰ Πίθωνος χιλίους πεντακοσίους καὶ τοὺς μετὰ Λυσανίου ξυστοφόρους τετρακοσίους, ἐπὶ πᾶσι δὲ τούς τε ἀμφίππους ὀνομαζομένους καὶ τοὺς ἐκ τῶν ἄνω κατοικούντων Θρᾳκῶν ὀκτακοσίους.
On this line he stationed the horse-archers and lance-bearers from Media and Parthyene, who were one thousand in number and well suited by nature for tactical retreats, and next, two thousand two hundred Tarentines who had come up with him from the sea, select men for ambushes and well-disposed in their loyalty toward him; then one thousand from Phrygia and Lydia, fifteen hundred under Pithon, and four hundred lance-bearers under Lysanias, and at the end of all, those called amphippoi and eight hundred of the Thracians who inhabit the upper country.
καὶ τὸ μὲν εὐώνυμον κέρας ὑπὸ τούτων ἐπληροῦτο τῶν ἱππέων, ὧν ἁπάντων Πίθων εἶχε τὴν ἡγεμονίαν· τῶν δὲ πεζῶν πρῶτοι μὲν ἐτάχθησαν οἱ ξένοι, πλείους ὄντες τῶν ἐννακισχιλίων, μετὰ δὲ τούτους Λύκιοι καὶ Παμφύλιοι τρισχίλιοι, παντοδαποὶ δʼ εἰς τὰ Μακεδονικὰ καθωπλισμένοι πλείους τῶν ὀκτακισχιλίων, ἐπὶ πᾶσι δὲ Μακεδόνες οὐ πολὺ ἐλάττους τῶν ὀκτακισχιλίων, οὓς ἔδωκεν Ἀντίπατρος καθʼ ὃν καιρὸν ἐπιμελητὴς ἀπεδείχθη τῆς βασιλείας.
And the left wing was filled by these cavalry, of all of whom Pithon had the command. Of the infantry, first were stationed the mercenaries, being more than nine thousand, and after these three thousand Lycians and Pamphylians, and more than eight thousand of all kinds armed in the Macedonian fashion, and at the end of all, not much fewer than eight thousand Macedonians, whom Antipater had given him at the time when he was appointed guardian of the kingdom.
τῶν δʼ ἱππέων πρῶτοι μὲν ἦσαν ἐπὶ τοῦ δεξιοῦ κέρατος συνάπτοντες τῇ φάλαγγι μισθοφόροι παντοδαποὶ πεντακόσιοι, ἑξῆς δὲ Θρᾷκες χίλιοι, παρὰ δὲ τῶν συμμάχων πεντακόσιοι, ἐχόμενοι δὲ τούτων οἱ προσαγορευθέντες ἑταῖροι χίλιοι, Δημήτριον ἔχοντες ἡγεμόνα τὸν Ἀντιγόνου, τότε πρώτως μέλλοντα συναγωνίζεσθαι τῷ πατρί.
Of the cavalry, first on the right wing, joining the phalanx, were five hundred mercenaries of all kinds, next one thousand Thracians, and five hundred from the allies; and holding next to these were the so-called Companions, one thousand, having as commander Demetrius the son of Antigonus, who was then for the first time about to fight in alliance with his father.
ἐπʼ ἄκρου δὲ τοῦ κέρατος ἦν τὸ ἄγημα τῶν ἱππέων τριακοσίων, μεθʼ ὧν καὶ αὐτὸς ἐκινδύνευε· πρόταγμα δὲ τούτων ἐκ τῶν ἰδίων παίδων εἶλαι τρεῖς ὑπῆρχον καὶ ταύταις ἴσαι παράλληλοι,3 συναγωνιζομένων αὐτοῖς Ταραντίνων ἑκατόν.
At the extremity of the wing was the squadron of three hundred cavalry, with whom he himself was to share the danger; and in front of these as a vanguard were three troops from his own pages, and equal ones parallel to them, with one hundred Tarentines fighting in alliance with them.
παρὰ δὲ τὸ κέρας πᾶν ἐξέταξε τοὺς κρατίστους τῶν ἐλεφάντων τριάκοντα, ποιήσας ἐπικάμπιον, καὶ τὰ διαστήματα τούτων συνεπλήρωσε τοῖς ψιλοῖς τάγμασιν ἐπιλέκτοις· τῶν δʼ ἄλλων θηρίων τὰ πλείω μὲν τῆς φάλαγγος προέστησεν, ὀλίγα δὲ μετὰ τῶν ἱππέων τῶν ἐν τοῖς εὐωνύμοις μέρεσι.
Along the entire wing he stationed thirty of the strongest elephants, forming a flank-guard, and filled up their intervals with select light-armed units; of the other beasts, he placed the majority in front of the phalanx, and a few with the cavalry in the left-wing areas.
τοῦτον δὲ τὸν τρόπον ἐκτάξας τὸ στρατόπεδον κατέβαινεν ἐπὶ τοὺς πολεμίους, λοξὴν ποιήσας τὴν τάξιν· τὸ μὲν γὰρ δεξιὸν κέρας, ᾧ μάλιστα ἐπίστευεν, προεβάλετο, τὸ δʼ ἕτερον ὑπεστείλατο, διεγνωκὼς ᾧ μὲν φυγομαχεῖν, ᾧ δὲ διαγωνίζεσθαι.4
Having drawn up his army in this manner, he marched down against the enemy, making his line oblique; for he advanced the right wing, in which he trusted most, but held back the other, having decided to avoid battle with the latter, but to fight the decisive battle with the former.
- 19.29.1ᾧ μάλιστα ἐπίστευον
The relative pronoun ᾧ has τοῦτο τὸ μέρος ('this part' i.e. the right wing) as its antecedent. The third-person plural verb ἐπίστευον ('they trusted') refers to the enemy's forces or their commanders as an implied subject.
- 19.29.2ἐπὶ ταύτης τῆς φάλαγγος
Although φάλαγξ usually denotes an infantry phalanx, here in context it refers to the cavalry line on the left wing. While some manuscripts read τάξεως ('line/order'), this translation follows the transmitted text.
- 19.29.5καὶ ταύταις ἴσαι παράλληλοι
The nominative feminine plural ἴσαι παράλληλοι ('equal ones parallel') agrees with the subject εῖλαι ('troops'). The demonstrative pronoun ταύταις (dative feminine plural) refers back to the εῖλαι τρεῖς ('three troops'), meaning 'another three troops equal in size and parallel to those three'.
- 19.29.7ᾧ μὲν φυγομαχεῖν, ᾧ δὲ διαγωνίζεσθαι
The relative dative ᾧ refers respectively to τὸ μὲν δεξιὸν κέρας ('the right wing') and τὸ δʼ ἕτερον ('the other [left] wing') in the preceding clause. The dative functions as means ('by which') or reference ('with respect to which') modifying the infinitives (φυγομαχεῖν and διαγωνίζεσθαι).