- 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-grc2:12.4b.1-12.4b.3
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-07
Polybius criticizes Timaeus's childish interpretation of the Roman ritual of sacrificing a horse as a memorial of the Trojan Horse, arguing against it by pointing out similar customs among other barbarians.
καὶ μὴν ἐν τοῖς περὶ Πύρρου πάλιν φησὶ τοὺς Ῥωμαίους ἔτι νῦν ὑπόμνημα ποιουμένους τῆς κατὰ τὸ Ἴλιον ἀπωλείας ἐν ἡμέρᾳ τινὶ κατακοντίζειν ἵππον πολεμιστὴν πρὸ τῆς πόλεως ἐν τῷ Κάμπῳ καλουμένῳ, διὰ τὸ τῆς Τροίας τὴν ἅλωσιν διὰ τὸν ἵππον γενέσθαι τὸν δούριον προσαγορευόμενον,1 πρᾶγμα πάντων παιδαριωδέστατον·2
Moreover, in his history of Pyrrhus, he says again that the Romans, even now keeping a memorial of the destruction at Ilium, on a certain day shoot with javelins a war-horse before the city in the place called the Campus, because the capture of Troy came about through the horse called the wooden horse—a claim most childish of all.
οὕτω μὲν γὰρ δεήσει3 πάντας τοὺς βαρβάρους λέγειν Τρώων ἀπογόνους ὑπάρχειν·
For on this principle, it will be necessary to say that all barbarians are descendants of the Trojans;
σχεδὸν γὰρ πάντες, εἰ δὲ μή γʼ, οἱ πλείους, ὅταν ἢ πολεμεῖν μέλλωσιν ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἢ διακινδυνεύειν πρός τινας ὁλοσχερῶς, ἵππον προθύονται καὶ σφαγιάζονται, σημειούμενοι τὸ μέλλον
since almost all, or if not all, at least the majority of them, when they are about either to begin a war or to risk a decisive battle against someone, sacrifice a horse beforehand and slaughter it, taking omens for the future.
- 12.4b.1διὰ τὸ τῆς Τροίας τὴν ἅλωσιν διὰ τὸν ἵππον γενέσθαι τὸν δούριον προσαγορευόμενον
Preposition διὰ with the accusative of the articular infinitive (τὸ γενέσθαι) expressing cause. The subject of the infinitive is in the accusative (τὴν ἅλωσιν), within which another prepositional phrase expressing means (διὰ τὸν ἵππον...) is embedded.
- 12.4b.1πρᾶγμα πάντων παιδαριωδέστατον
Accusative in apposition to the preceding clause or statement, serving as Polybius's own critical parenthetical comment on Timaeus's assertion.
- 12.4b.2οὕτω μὲν γὰρ δεήσει
The adverb οὕτω (thus, on this principle) implies a conditional protasis ("if this were so"). The future of the impersonal verb δεῖ (δεήσει) functions as the main verb of the apodosis.