- Source
- Polybius. Vols. 1-4. Büttner-Wobst, Theodor, editor. Leipzig: Teubner, 1893.
- Translation
- AI-generated (gemini-3.5-flash) — machine translation; may contain errors
- Languages
- 日本語 · English · 简体中文 · 한국어
- CTS URN
- urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0543.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:1.72.1-1.72.7
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-12
The passage explains that Carthage's harsh rule and heavy taxation on Libya was the cause of the rebellion. The Libyan women voluntarily contributed their jewelry to provide abundant funds for Mathos and Spendius to pay the mercenaries.
κούτων κακῶν1 ἐγεγόνεισαν αἴτιοι. κατὰ γὰρ τὸν προγεγονότα πόλεμον εὐλόγους ἀφορμὰς ἔχειν ὑπολαμβάνοντες πικρῶς ἐπεστάτησαν τῶν κατὰ τὴν Λιβύην ἀνθρώπων, παραιρούμενοι μὲν τῶν ἄλλων πάντων τῶν καρπῶν τοὺς ἡμίσεις, διπλασίους δὲ ταῖς πόλεσι τοὺς φόρους ἢ πρὶν ἐπιτάττοντες, συγγνώμην δὲ τοῖς ἀπόροις ἢ συμπεριφορὰν οὐδʼ ἡντινοῦν ἐπʼ οὐδενὶ τῶν πραττομένων διδόντες, θαυμάζοντες δὲ καὶ τιμῶντες τῶν ἀεὶ στρατηγῶν οὐ τοὺς πρᾴως καὶ φιλανθρώπως τῷ πλήθει χρωμένους, ἀλλὰ τοὺς αὐτοῖς μὲν ἑτοιμάζοντας πλείστας χορηγίας καὶ ἐπισκευάς, τοῖς δὲ κατὰ τὴν χώραν πικρότατα χρωμένους, ὧν εἷς ἦν Ἄννων.
they themselves had become the causes of these evils. For during the past war, supposing that they had reasonable pretexts, they had ruled harshly over the people of Libya, depriving them of half of all their other crops, and imposing on the cities double the taxes that they had paid before, and granting to the needy no pardon or indulgence whatsoever in any of their actions, and admiring and honoring among the successive generals not those who treated the multitude with mildness and humanity, but those who prepared for themselves the greatest amount of supplies and provisions, while treating the people of the country most harshly, of whom Hanno was one.
τοιγαροῦν οἱ μὲν ἄνδρες οὐχ οἷον2 παρακλήσεως πρὸς τὴν ἀπόστασιν, ἀλλʼ ἀγγέλου μόνον ἐδεήθησαν·
Therefore, the men required not so much an exhortation to revolt, but merely a messenger;
αἱ δὲ γυναῖκες αἱ τὸν πρὸ τοῦ χρόνον ἀπαγομένους περιορῶσαι3 τοὺς σφετέρους ἄνδρας καὶ γονεῖς πρὸς τὰς εἰσφοράς, τότε συνομνύουσαι κατὰ πόλεις ἐφʼ ᾧ μηδὲν κρύψειν4 τῶν ὑπαρχόντων αὐταῖς, ἀφαιρούμεναι τὸν κόσμον εἰσέφερον ἀπροφασίστως εἰς τοὺς ὀψωνιασμούς.
while the women, who in the preceding period had looked on while their husbands and parents were being led away for the taxes, now took an oath together city by city that they would hide none of their possessions, and stripping off their ornaments, contributed them without hesitation for the payment of the troops.
καὶ τοιαύτην παρεσκεύασαν εὐπορίαν τοῖς περὶ τὸν Μάθω καὶ Σπένδιον ὥστε μὴ μόνον διαλῦσαι τὰ προσοφειλόμενα τῶν ὀψωνίων τοῖς μισθοφόροις κατὰ τὰς ἐπαγγελίας, ἃς ἐποιήσαντο πρὸς τὴν ἀπόστασιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ πρὸς τὸ συνεχὲς εὐπορῆσαι χορηγίας.
And they provided such an abundance of resources for Mathos and Spendius and their followers, that they were not only able to discharge the arrears of pay to the mercenaries according to the promises they had made at the beginning of the revolt, but had also an abundant supply of funds for the continuous carrying on of the war.
οὕτως οὐδέποτε δεῖ πρὸς τὸ παρὸν μόνον, ἔτι δὲ μᾶλλον πρὸς τὸ μέλλον ἀποβλέπειν ἀεὶ τοὺς ὀρθῶς βουλευομένους.
Thus those who consult wisely ought never to look to the present moment only, but still more always to look forward to the future.
- 1.72.1κούτων κακῶν
Together with τηλι at the end of the previous chunk, it forms τηλικούτων κακῶν ('of such great evils'), a genitive phrase modifying αἴτιοι ('authors/causes').
- 1.72.4οὐχ οἷον
The idiom οὐχ οἷον ... ἀλλὰ ... means 'far from... but rather...' or 'not only not... but...'. Here it indicates that they needed far from an exhortation, but merely a messenger. The verb δεῖσθαι (ἐδεήθησαν) governs the genitive cases παρακλήσεως and ἀγγέλου.
- 1.72.5ἀπαγομένους περιορῶσαι
The verb περιοράω ('to overlook, suffer, allow') takes an accusative object (τοὺς σφετέρους ἄνδρας καὶ γονεῖς) and a present passive participle (ἀπαγομένους), meaning 'to see their own husbands and parents being led away without interfering.'
- 1.72.5ἐφʼ ᾧ μηδὲν κρύψειν
The prepositional phrase ἐφʼ ᾧ (the preposition ἐπί with the dative relative pronoun) followed by the infinitive (the future infinitive κρύψειν) introduces a condition, meaning 'on condition that they would hide nothing.'