- 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-grc2:12.4c.1-12.4c.5
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-07
Polybius criticizes Timaeus's erroneous interpretation of the Roman horse sacrifice and argues for the vital importance of "inquiry" in historical writing to investigate events that cannot be witnessed directly.
ἐκ τῆς τοῦ ζῴου πτώσεως.1 ὁ δὲ Τίμαιος περὶ τοῦτο τὸ μέρος τῆς ἀλογίας οὐ μόνον ἀπειρίαν, ἔτι δὲ μᾶλλον ὀψιμαθίαν δοκεῖ μοι πολλὴν ἐπιφαίνειν, ὅς γε,2 διότι θύουσιν ἵππον, εὐθέως ὑπέλαβε τοῦτο ποιεῖν αὐτοὺς διὰ τὸ τὴν Τροίαν ἀφʼ ἵππου δοκεῖν ἑαλωκέναι.
...from the fall of the animal. But Timaeus, in this part of his absurdity, seems to me to display not only ignorance but still more a great deal of late-learned pedantry, seeing that, because they sacrifice a horse, he straightway assumed they did this because Troy was believed to have been captured by means of a horse.
πλὴν ὅτι γε3 κακῶς ἱστόρηκε καὶ τὰ περὶ τὴν Λιβύην καὶ τὰ περὶ τὴν Σαρδόνα, καὶ μάλιστα τὰ κατὰ τὴν Ἰταλίαν, ἐκ τούτων ἐστὶ συμφανές, καὶ καθόλου διότι τὸ περὶ τὰς ἀνακρίσεις μέρος ἐπισέσυρται παρʼ αὐτῷ τελέως· ὅπερ ἐστὶ κυριώτατον τῆς ἱστορίας.
Nevertheless, that he has written a mistaken history both of the affairs of Libya and of Sardinia, and most of all of those of Italy, is manifest from these facts, and in general because the department of inquiry has been completely neglected by him—which is the most essential part of history.
ἐπειδὴ γὰρ αἱ μὲν πράξεις ἅμα πολλαχῇ συντελοῦνται, παρεῖναι δὲ τὸν αὐτὸν ἐν πλείοσι τόποις κατὰ τὸν αὐτὸν καιρὸν ἀδύνατον, ὁμοίως γε μὴν οὐδʼ αὐτόπτην γενέσθαι πάντων τῶν κατὰ τὴν οἰκουμένην τόπων καὶ τῶν ἐν τοῖς τόποις ἰδιωμάτων τὸν ἕνα δυνατόν, καταλείπεται4 πυνθάνεσθαι μὲν ὡς παρὰ πλείστων, πιστεύειν δὲ τοῖς ἀξίοις πίστεως, κριτὴν δʼ εἶναι τῶν προσπιπτόντων μὴ κακόν.
For since actions are performed in many places at once, and it is impossible for the same person to be present in several places at the same time, and likewise impossible for a single man to have been an eyewitness of all places in the inhabited world and of the peculiarities of those places, there remains nothing but to inquire from as many people as possible, to believe those worthy of belief, and to be no bad judge of the reports that come to hand.
- 12.4c.1ἐκ τῆς τοῦ ζῴου πτώσεως
This phrase is an adverbial modifier directly qualifying "σημειούμενοι τὸ μέλλον" (taking omens for the future) in the previous section (12.4b.3), showing a grammatical continuation across the chapter division.
- 12.4c.1ὅς γε
A relative pronoun with causal force ("seeing that he...", "inasmuch as he..."), indicating the reason for the writer's judgment.
- 12.4c.2πλὴν ὅτι γε
Used as an introductory conjunction, introducing a noun clause ("that he has written a mistaken history...") which serves as the subject of the subsequent "ἐκ τούτων ἐστὶ συμφανές" (is manifest from these facts).
- 12.4c.5καταλείπεται
Functions as an impersonal verb, taking the three infinitives (πυνθάνεσθαι, πιστεύειν, εἶναι) as its subject, meaning "it remains [for us] to...".