- 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-grc2:12.25g.1-12.25g.4
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-07
The author argues the impossibility of historians without practical experience writing accurately about war, politics, and topography, criticizing the limitations of Timaeus and others who rely solely on books.
ὅτι1 οὔτε περὶ τῶν κατὰ πόλεμον συμβαινόντων δυνατόν ἐστι γράψαι καλῶς τὸν μηδεμίαν ἐμπειρίαν ἔχοντα τῶν πολεμικῶν ἔργων οὔτε περὶ τῶν ἐν ταῖς πολιτείαις τὸν μὴ πεπειραμένον τῶν τοιούτων πράξεων καὶ περιστάσεων.
Indeed, it is impossible for one who has no experience of military operations to write well about what happens in war, or for one who is unversed in such actions and circumstances to write well about what happens in political affairs.
λοιπὸν οὔτʼ ἐμπείρως ὑπὸ τῶν βυβλιακῶν2 οὔτʼ ἐμφαντικῶς οὐδενὸς γραφομένου3 συμβαίνει τὴν πραγματείαν ἄπρακτον γίνεσθαι τοῖς ἐντυγχάνουσιν· εἰ γὰρ ἐκ τῆς ἱστορίας ἐξέλοι τις τὸ δυνάμενον ὠφελεῖν ἡμᾶς, τὸ λοιπὸν αὐτῆς ἄζηλον καὶ ἀνωφελὲς γίνεται παντελῶς.
Consequently, with nothing being written by bookish writers either with practical knowledge or with vividness, it happens that their treatise becomes useless to those who read it. For if one were to take away from history what is capable of benefiting us, the remainder of it becomes completely unattractive and useless.
ἔτι δὲ περὶ τῶν πόλεων καὶ τόπων ὅταν ἐπιβάλωνται γράφειν τὰ κατὰ μέρος, ὄντες ἀτριβεῖς τῆς τοιαύτης ἐμπειρίας,4 δῆλον ὡς ἀνάγκη συμβαίνειν τὸ παραπλήσιον, καὶ πολλὰ μὲν ἀξιόλογα παραλείπειν, περὶ πολλῶν δὲ ποιεῖσθαι πολὺν λόγον οὐκ ἀξίων ὄντων· ὃ δὴ συμβαίνει μάλιστα Τιμαίῳ διὰ τὴν ἀορασίαν.
Moreover, when they undertake to write about cities and places in detail, being unpracticed in such experience, it is clear that the same result must happen: they omit many noteworthy things, while making a long discourse about many things that are not worth it. This is precisely what happens most of all to Timaeus because of his lack of personal observation.
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- 12.25g.1ὅτι
The ὅτι at the beginning of the sentence is historically used in Byzantine epitomes to introduce a summary or a main thesis of the original text.
- 12.25g.2τῶν βυβλιακῶν
Substantive use of the adjective βυβλιακός ('pertaining to books'), referring mockingly to 'bookish historians' who write history solely from library research (βυβλίον) without practical experience or field investigation.
- 12.25g.2οὐδενὸς γραφομένου
A genitive absolute construction where the genitive neuter singular of the indefinite pronoun οὐδείς (οὐδενός) functions as the subject of the participle γραφομένου. Together with the adverbs οὔτʼ ἐμπείρως ... οὔτʼ ἐμφαντικῶς, it expresses cause: 'since nothing is written either with practical knowledge or with vividness.'
- 12.25g.3ἀτριβεῖς τῆς τοιαύτης ἐμπειρίας
The adjective ἀτριβής ('unpracticed, inexperienced') governs the genitive (τῆς τοιαύτης ἐμπειρίας), which specifies the field of experience in which they are unversed.