- 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-grc2:11.11.1-11.11.7
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-06
The Spartan tyrant Machanidas, learning of the Achaean gathering, advances towards Mantinea. In response, Philopoemen divides his forces into three parts and deploys them outside the city, establishing a defensive line utilizing the terrain of hills and ditches.
ὁ δὲ Μαχανίδας κατατεθαρρηκώς, καὶ νομίζων ὡς ἂν εἰ κατʼ εὐχὴν αὐτῷ γίνεσθαι τὴν τῶν Ἀχαιῶν ὁρμήν,1 ἅμα τῷ γνῶναι διότι συνηθροισμένοι τυγχάνουσιν εἰς τὴν Μαντίνειαν, παρακαλέσας ἐν Τεγέᾳ τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους τὰ πρέποντα τοῖς καιροῖς, εὐθέως εἰς τὴν ἐπιοῦσαν, ἄρτι τῆς ἡμέρας ἐπιφαινούσης, προῆγεν ὡς ἐπὶ τὴν Μαντίνειαν, τῆς μὲν φάλαγγος καθηγούμενος τῷ δεξιῷ κέρατι, τοὺς δὲ μισθοφόρους ἐξ ἑκατέρου τοῦ μέρους τῆς πρωτοπορείας παραλλήλους ἄγων, ἐπὶ δὲ τούτοις ζεύγη πλῆθος ὀργάνων καὶ βελῶν κομίζοντα καταπελτικῶν.
On his part, Machanidas, full of confidence, and thinking that the advance of the Achaeans was happening, as it were, according to his wish, as soon as he learned that they were actually assembled at Mantinea, encouraged the Lacedaemonians at Tegea with words suitable to the occasion, and immediately on the following day, just as day was breaking, advanced towards Mantinea, leading the right wing of the phalanx, while he led the mercenaries parallel to each other on both sides of the vanguard, and after these he brought a multitude of carts carrying engines and missiles for catapults.
κατὰ δὲ τὸν αὐτὸν καιρὸν Φιλοποίμην εἰς τρία μέρη διῃρηκὼς τὴν δύναμιν ἐξῆγεν ἐκ τῆς Μαντινείας, κατὰ μὲν τὴν ἐκ τοῦ Ποσειδῶνος ἱεροῦ φέρουσαν2 τοὺς Ἰλλυριοὺς καὶ θωρακίτας, ἅμα δὲ τὸ ξενικὸν ἅπαν καὶ τοὺς εὐζώνους, κατὰ δὲ τὴν ἑξῆς ὡς πρὸς τὰς δύσεις τοὺς φαλαγγίτας, ἔτι δὲ κατὰ τὴν ἐχομένην τοὺς πολιτικοὺς ἱππεῖς.
At the same time, Philopoemen, having divided his force into three parts, led them out of Mantinea: by the road leading from the temple of Poseidon he led the Illyrians and thoracitae, together with all the foreign mercenaries and the light-armed troops; by the next road leading towards the west, the phalangites; and by the one adjacent to that, the civic cavalry.
τοῖς μὲν οὖν εὐζώνοις κατελάβετο πρώτοις τὸν λόφον τὸν πρὸ τῆς πόλεως, ὃς ἀνατείνων ἱκανὸν ὑπὲρ τὴν ὁδὸν κεῖται τὴν Ξενίδα καὶ τὸ προειρημένον ἱερόν· τοὺς δὲ θωρακίτας συνάπτων ἐπὶ τὴν μεσημβρίαν κατέστησε. τούτοις δὲ συνεχεῖς τοὺς Ἰλλυριοὺς παρενέβαλε.
First, then, with the light-armed troops, he occupied the hill in front of the city, which rises considerably above the Xenis road and the aforementioned temple; and he stationed the thoracitae next to them, facing south. Contiguous to these, he posted the Illyrians.
μετὰ δὲ τούτους ἐπὶ τὴν αὐτὴν εὐθεῖαν τὴν φάλαγγα κατὰ τέλη σπειρηδὸν3 ἐν διαστήμασιν ἐπέστησε παρὰ τὴν τάφρον τὴν φέρουσαν ἐπὶ τοῦ Ποσειδίου διὰ μέσου τοῦ τῶν Μαντινέων πεδίου καὶ συνάπτουσαν τοῖς ὄρεσι τοῖς συντερμονοῦσι τῇ τῶν Ἐλισφασίων χώρᾳ.
After these, along the same straight line, he stationed the phalanx by companies at intervals, along the ditch that runs towards the Poseidion through the middle of the plain of Mantinea, and joins the mountains which border on the territory of the Elisphasians.
πρὸς μὲν τούτοις ἐπὶ τὸ δεξιὸν κέρας ἐπέστησε τοὺς Ἀχαϊκοὺς ἱππεῖς, ὧν Ἀρισταίνετος ἡγεῖτο Δυμαῖος· κατὰ δὲ τὸ λαιὸν αὐτὸς εἶχε τὸ ξενικὸν ἅπαν ἐν ἐπαλλήλοις τάξεσιν.
In addition to these, on the right wing, he stationed the Achaean cavalry, led by Aristainetos of Dyme; while on the left, he himself held all the foreign mercenaries in deep-ordered ranks.
- 11.11.1ὡς ἂν εἰ κατʼ εὐχὴν αὐτῷ γίνεσθαι τὴν τῶν Ἀχαιῶν ὁρμήν
An accusative with infinitive construction depending on the participle νομίζων, introduced by ὡς ἂν εἰ ('as if', 'as would be'). The subject of the infinitive γίνεσθαι is τὴν τῶν Ἀχαιῶν ὁρμήν.
- 11.11.4κατὰ μὲν τὴν ἐκ τοῦ Ποσειδῶνος ἱεροῦ φέρουσαν
The feminine singular accusative article τὴν and the participle φέρουσαν after the preposition κατά imply the omission of the feminine noun ὁδόν ('road'). The subsequent phrases κατὰ δὲ τὴν ἑξῆς and κατὰ τὴν ἐχομένην follow the same elliptical structure.
- 11.11.6σπειρηδὸν
An adverb derived from the noun σπεῖρα (a cohort or tactical military unit). It means 'by companies' or 'in dense tactical units', describing how the phalanx was stationed in distinct blocks at intervals (ἐν διαστήμασιν).