- 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-grc2:12.26.1-12.26.9
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-08
The author lists the tedious and childish commonplaces and poetic quotations about peace and war that Timaeus puts in the mouth of Hermocrates, criticizing them as worthy of a mere schoolboy's rhetorical exercise rather than a historical statesman.
ράκιον1 τὸ τυχόν; ὅς γε πρῶτον μὲν οἴεται δεῖν ἀναμνησθῆναι τοὺς συνέδρους διότι τοὺς κοιμωμένους τὸν ὄρθρον ἐν μὲν τῷ πολέμῳ διεγείρουσιν αἱ σάλπιγγες, κατὰ δὲ τὴν εἰρήνην οἱ ὄρνιθες.
even any ordinary youth [would not use them]; for he thinks, first of all, that the delegates ought to be reminded that while in war the trumpets wake those who are asleep at dawn, in peace the birds do so.
μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τὸν Ἡρακλέα φησὶ τὸν μὲν Ὀλυμπίων ἀγῶνα θεῖναι καὶ τὴν ἐκεχειρίαν δεῖγμα ποιούμενον τῆς αὑτοῦ προαιρέσεως, ὅσοις δʼ ἐπολέμησε, τούτους πάντας βεβλαφέναι κατὰ τὴν ἀνάγκην καὶ κατʼ ἐπιταγήν, ἑκουσίως δὲ παραίτιον οὐδενὶ γεγονέναι κακοῦ τῶν ἀνθρώπων.
After this, he says that Heracles established the Olympic games and the truce as a proof of his own purpose, and that although he harmed all those with whom he waged war, he did so out of necessity and command, but voluntarily he was the cause of evil to no human being.
ἑξῆς δὲ τούτοις παρὰ μὲν τῷ ποιητῇ τὸν Δία παρεισάγεσθαι δυσαρεστούμενον τῷ Ἄρει καὶ λέγοντα ἔχθιστος δέ μοί ἐσσι θεῶν, οἳ Ὄλυμπον ἔχουσιν· αἰεὶ γάρ τοι ἔρις τε φίλη πόλεμοί τε μάχαι τε.
And next to these, he says that in the poet Zeus is introduced as being displeased with Ares and saying: ‘Most hateful to me art thou of all the gods that hold Olympus; for ever is strife dear to thee and wars and battles.’
ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τὸν φρονιμώτατον τῶν ἡρώων λέγειν ἀφρήτωρ, ἀθέμιστος, ἀνέστιός ἐστιν ἐκεῖνος ὃς πολέμου ἔραται ἐπιδημίου ὀκρυόεντος. ὁμογνωμονεῖν δὲ τῷ ποιητῇ καὶ τὸν Εὐριπίδην, ἐν οἷς φησιν, εἰρήνα βαθύπλουτε, καλλίστα μακάρων θεῶν, ζῆλός μοι σέθεν, ὡς χρονίζεις. δέδοικα δὲ μὴ πρὶν ὑπερβάλῃ με γῆρας, πρὶν σὰν χαρίεσσαν προσιδεῖν ὥραν καὶ καλλιχόρους ἀοιδὰς φιλοστεφάνους τε κώμους.
And likewise that the wisest of the heroes says: ‘A clanless, lawless, hearthless man is he who loves dreadful civil war.’ And he says that Euripides also agrees with the poet, in the passage where he says: ‘Peace, rich in wealth, fairest of the blessed gods, I long for thee, how thou dost delay! I fear lest old age overcome me, before I can look upon thy gracious beauty, and the fair-dancing songs and crown-loving revels.’
ἔτι δὲ πρὸς τούτοις ὁμοιότατον εἶναί φησι τὸν μὲν πόλεμον τῇ νόσῳ, τὴν δʼ εἰρήνην τῇ ὑγιείᾳ· τὴν μὲν γὰρ καὶ τοὺς κάμνοντας ἀναλαμβάνειν,2 ἐν ᾧ δὲ καὶ τοὺς ὑγιαίνοντας ἀπόλλυσθαι.
And in addition to these, he says that war is most like disease, and peace like health; for the latter restores even the sick, whereas in the former even the healthy perish.
καὶ κατὰ μὲν τὴν εἰρήνην τοὺς πρεσβυτέρους ὑπὸ τῶν νέων θάπτεσθαι κατὰ φύσιν, ἐν δὲ τῷ πολέμῳ τἀναντία, τὸ δὲ μέγιστον ἐν μὲν τῷ πολέμῳ μηδʼ ἄχρι τῶν τειχῶν εἶναι τὴν ἀσφάλειαν, κατὰ δὲ τὴν εἰρήνην μέχρι τῶν τῆς χώρας ὅρων, καὶ τούτοις ἕτερα παραπλήσια.
and that in peace the elders are buried by the young according to nature, but in war the opposite is the case, and, what is greatest of all, that in war safety does not exist even as far as the walls, but in peace it extends to the borders of the territory, and other things similar to these.
θαυμάζω δὴ τίσι ποτʼ ἂν ἄλλοις ἐχρήσατο λόγοις ἢ προφοραῖς μειράκιον ἄρτι γενόμενον περὶ διατριβὰς3 καὶ τὰς ἐκ τῶν ὑπομνημάτων πολυπραγμοσύνας καὶ βουλόμενον παραγγελματικῶς ἐκ τῶν παρεπομένων τοῖς προσώποις ποιεῖσθαι τὴν ἐπιχείρησιν· δοκεῖ γὰρ οὐχ ἑτέροις, ἀλλὰ τούτοις οἷς Τίμαιος Ἑρμοκράτην κεχρῆσθαί φησι.
Indeed, I wonder what other arguments or expressions any youth who had just entered on the school exercises and the busy pursuit of knowledge from historical memoirs, and who wished to construct his discourse according to textbook rules from the attributes of the persons, would have used; for it seems to be not other arguments, but these very ones, which Timaeus says Hermocrates used.
- 12.26.1ράκιον
This word connects with the syllable μει at the end of the previous chunk to form μειράκιον (youth). Together with τὸ τυχόν, it functions as a subject, implying an unexpressed potential or irrealis verb (such as ἂν ἐχρήσατο), meaning 'even an ordinary youth [would not have used such arguments]'.
- 12.26.6τὴν μὲν γὰρ καὶ τοὺς κάμνοντας ἀναλαμβάνειν
The feminine singular accusative pronoun τὴν μὲν refers to the preceding feminine nouns τὴν δʼ εἰρήνην (peace) or τῇ ὑγιείᾳ (health). Semantically, 'peace/health' plays the positive role of restoring even the sick, contrasted with the following phrase ἐν ᾧ δὲ (in war / in disease) where even the healthy perish.
- 12.26.9μειράκιον ἄρτι γενόμενον περὶ διατριβὰς
The preposition περὶ here denotes being occupied with or engaged in the rhetorical exercises of the schools (διατριβὰς). The whole sentence is built around a potential/unreal indicative with ἄν (ἂν ἐχρήσατο), creating a rhetorical, critical question: 'what other expressions would a youth just entering school exercises have used?'