- 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-grc2:12.25k.1-12.25k.11
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-08
To confirm his judgment against Timaeus, Polybius introduces a concrete example from Timaeus' history where Hermocrates, a highly practical statesman, is inappropriately depicted delivering a childish and pedantic speech during the peace negotiations at Gela.
ἵνα δὲ καὶ περὶ ταῦτα βεβαιωσώμεθα τὴν ἀπόφασιν τὴν ὑπὲρ Τιμαίου, καθάπερ καὶ τὴν ὑπὲρ τῆς ἀγνοίας, ἔτι δὲ τῆς ἑκουσίου ψευδογραφίας, βραχέα προοισόμεθα τῶν ὁμολογουμένων αὐτοῦ λόγων ἐπʼ ὀνόματος.
In order that, concerning these matters as well, we may confirm our decision regarding Timaeus, just as we did regarding his ignorance and also his deliberate falsehoods, we shall set forth brief passages from his acknowledged speeches by name.
— ὅτι τῶν δεδυναστευκότων ἐν Σικελίᾳ μετὰ Γέλωνα τὸν ἀρχαῖον πραγματικωτάτους ἄνδρας παρειλήφαμεν Ἑρμοκράτην, Τιμολέοντα, Πύρρον τὸν Ἠπειρώτην, οἷς ἥκιστʼ ἂν δέοι περιάπτειν μειρακιώδεις καὶ διατριβικοὺς λόγους.
—namely, that among those who ruled in Sicily after the elder Gelon, we have received Hermocrates, Timoleon, and Pyrrhus the Epirot as the most practical of men, to whom it would be least of all fitting to attribute childish and pedantic speeches.
ὁ δέ φησιν ἐν τῇ μιᾷ καὶ εἰκοστῇ βύβλῳ, καθʼ ὃν καιρὸν Εὐρυμέδων παραγενόμενος εἰς Σικελίαν παρεκάλει τὰς πόλεις εἰς τὸν κατὰ τῶν Συρακοσίων πόλεμον, τότε τοὺς Γελῴους κάμνοντας τῷ πολέμῳ διαπέμψασθαι1 πρὸς τοὺς Καμαριναίους ὑπὲρ ἀνοχῶν·
Now, Timaeus says in his twenty-first book that at the time when Eurymedon, having arrived in Sicily, was urging the cities to join the war against the Syracusans, then the Geloans, being distressed by the war, sent envoys to the Camarinaeans to treat for an armistice;
τῶν δὲ προθύμως δεξαμένων, μετὰ ταῦτα πρεσβεύειν ἑκατέρους πρὸς τοὺς ἑαυτῶν συμμάχους καὶ παρακαλεῖν ἄνδρας ἐκπέμψαι πιστούς, οἵτινες εἰσελθόντες εἰς Γέλαν βουλεύσονται περὶ διαλύσεως καὶ τῶν κοινῇ συμφερόντων.
and when the latter readily accepted, after this both sides sent embassies to their respective allies, urging them to send trustworthy men who, having assembled in Gela, would deliberate on terms of reconciliation and their common interests.
παραγενομένων δὲ τῶν συνέδρων, καὶ διαβουλίου προτεθέντος τοιούτοις τισὶ χρώμενον εἰσάγει λόγοις τὸν Ἑρμοκράτην.
When these delegates had arrived, and a general consultation was proposed, he introduces Hermocrates making use of speeches of the following kind.
ἐπαινέσας γὰρ ὁ προειρημένος ἀνὴρ τοὺς Γελῴους καὶ τοὺς Καμαριναίους, πρῶτον μὲν ὡς αὐτῶν ποιησάντων2 τὰς ἀνοχάς, δεύτερον ὅτι τοῦ περὶ διαλύσεως γενέσθαι λόγους αἴτιοι καθεστήκασι, τρίτον ὅτι προνοηθεῖεν τοῦ μὴ βουλεύεσθαι τὰ πλήθη περὶ τῶν διαλύσεων, ἀλλὰ τοὺς προεστῶτας τῶν πολιτῶν τοὺς σαφῶς εἰδότας τίνα διαφορὰν ὁ πόλεμος ἔχει τῆς εἰρήνης, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα δύʼ ἢ τρία λαβὼν ἐπιχειρήματα πραγματικά, λοιπόν φησιν αὐτοὺς ἐπιστήσαντας μαθεῖν ἡλίκην ὁ πόλεμος διαφορὰν ἔχει τῆς εἰρήνης, μικρῷ πρότερον εἰρηκὼς ὅτι κατʼ αὐτὸ τοῦτο χάριν ἔχει τοῖς Γελῴοις τὸ μὴ γίνεσθαι τοὺς λόγους ἐν τοῖς πολλοῖς ἀλλʼ ἐν συνεδρίῳ καλῶς γινώσκοντι τὰς τοιαύτας περιπετείας.
For the aforementioned man praised the Geloans and the Camarinaeans, first because they themselves had brought about the armistice, secondly because they had become the causes for talks on reconciliation taking place, and thirdly because they had taken care that the masses should not deliberate on the terms of reconciliation, but rather the leading citizens who clearly knew what difference war has from peace; but after this, having taken up only two or three practical arguments, for the rest, he says that they, having turned their attention, should learn how great a difference war has from peace, although he had said a little earlier that on this very account he was grateful to the Geloans, namely that the speeches were not made among the multitude but in a council that well knew such reversals of fortune.
ἐξ ὧν ὁ Τίμαιος οὐ μόνον τῆς πραγματικῆς ἂν δόξειεν ἀπολείπεσθαι δυνάμεως, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν ἐν ταῖς διατριβαῖς ἐπιχειρήσεων οὐκ ὀλίγον ἐλαττοῦσθαι.
From this, Timaeus would seem not only to fall short of practical power, but also to be not a little inferior to the rhetorical exercises of the schoolrooms.
πάντες γὰρ δήπουθεν οἴονται δεῖν τὰς ἀποδείξεις φέρειν τῶν ἀγνοουμένων καὶ τῶν ἀπιστουμένων παρὰ τοῖς ἀκροαταῖς, περὶ δὲ τῶν ἤδη γινωσκομένων ματαιότατον εἶναι πάντων καὶ παιδαριωδέστατον τὸ καθευρεσιλογεῖν μενον ἢ τὸ γινωσκόμενον.
For everyone surely thinks it necessary to bring proofs for things unknown and doubted by the hearers, whereas concerning things already known, to invent arguments about what is [already] known is the most useless and childish of all things.
ὁ δὲ χωρὶς τῆς ὅλης παραπτώσεως τοῦ διατεθεῖσθαι τὸ πλεῖστον μέρος τοῦ λόγου πρὸς τὰ καθάπαξ μὴ προσδεόμενα λόγου καὶ λήμμασι κέχρηται τοιούτοις, οἷς τὸν μὲν Ἑρμοκράτην τίς ἂν κεχρῆσθαι πιστεύσειε, τὸν συναγωνισάμενον μὲν Λακεδαιμονίοις τὴν ἐν Αἰγὸς ποταμοῖς ναυμαχίαν, αὐτανδρὶ3 δὲ χειρωσάμενον τὰς Ἀθηναίων δυνάμεις καὶ τοὺς στρατηγοὺς κατὰ Σικελίαν, ἀλλʼ οὐδὲ μει
But he, apart from the general mistake of having directed the greater part of the speech toward things that do not at all require speech, has also employed such premises, which who would believe that Hermocrates would have used—he who fought alongside the Lacedaemonians in the naval battle at Aegospotami, and who in Sicily subdued the Athenian forces and their generals along with their entire men—indeed, not even a lad...
- 12.25k.3διαπέμψασθαι
An aorist middle infinitive governed by the indirect discourse of the main verb φησίν (accusative and infinitive construction). Its subject accusative is τοὺς Γελῴους. Similarly, πρεσβεύειν in §12.25k.4 continues this construction.
- 12.25k.6ὡς αὐτῶν ποιησάντων
A genitive absolute construction (αὐτῶν ποιησάντων) with the particle ὡς. The addition of ὡς indicates a subjective or alleged reason: 'on the ground that they had (as he believed) brought about the armistice.'
- 12.25k.11αὐτανδρί
A specialized adverbial dative meaning 'men and all', 'with the entire crew/forces', or 'bag and baggage'. It is an idiomatic use of the dative without a preposition to express accompaniment or manner.