- 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-grc2:14.5.1-14.5.15
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-08
Scipio's surprise attack spreads the fire from the Numidian camp to the Carthaginian camp, leading to their total destruction. This spectacular victory is praised as the most splendid and daring of all Scipio's achievements.
κατὰ δὲ τὸν καιρὸν τοῦτον οἱ Καρχηδόνιοι, θεωροῦντες τὸ πλῆθος τοῦ πυρὸς καὶ τὸ μέγεθος τῆς ἐξαιρομένης φλογός, ὑπολαβόντες αὐτομάτως ἀνῆφθαι τὸν τῶν Νομάδων χάρακα, τινὲς μὲν ἐβοήθουν ἐξ αὐτῆς,1 οἱ δὲ λοιποὶ πάντες ἐκτρέχοντες ἐκ τῆς παρεμβολῆς ἄνοπλοι συνίσταντο πρὸ τῆς ἰδίας στρατοπεδείας, ἐκπλαγεῖς ὄντες ἐπὶ τοῖς γινομένοις.
At this time the Carthaginians, seeing the quantity of the fire and the size of the rising flame, and supposing that the palisade of the Numidians had caught fire by accident, some of them went to render assistance immediately. But all the rest, running out of the camp unarmed, stood together in front of their own quarters, being astounded at what was happening.
ὁ δὲ Σκιπίων, τῶν πραγμάτων ὡς ἂν εἰ κατʼ εὐχὴν αὐτῷ προχωρησάντων,2 ἐπιπεσὼν τοῖς ἐξεληλυθόσιν, οὓς μὲν ἐφόνευεν, οὓς δὲ καταδιώκων ἅμα τὸ πῦρ ἐνέβαλλε ταῖς σκηναῖς.
Scipio, since things had proceeded for him as if according to his wish, fell upon those who had come out; some he slew, and others he pursued, while at the same time he set fire to the tents.
οὗ γενομένου παραπλήσια συνέβαινε πάσχειν τοὺς Φοίνικας ὑπὸ τοῦ πυρὸς καὶ τῆς ὅλης περιστάσεως τοῖς ἄρτι ῥηθεῖσι περὶ τῶν Νομάδων.
When this happened, it came about that the Carthaginians suffered, from the fire and the whole situation, things very similar to what had just been told of the Numidians.
οἱ δὲ περὶ τὸν Ἀσδρούβαν τοῦ μὲν τῷ πυρὶ βοηθεῖν3 αὐτόθεν εὐθέως ἀπέστησαν, γνόντες ἐκ τοῦ συμβαίνοντος ὅτι καὶ περὶ τοὺς Νομάδας οὐκ αὐτομάτως, καθάπερ ὑπέλαβον, ἀλλʼ ἐκ τῆς τῶν πολεμίων ἐπιβολῆς καὶ τόλμης ἐγεγόνει τὸ δεινόν·
Hasdrubal and his men immediately desisted from trying to render assistance to extinguish the fire, realizing from what was happening that the disaster among the Numidians also had occurred not by accident, as they had supposed, but from the attack and daring of the enemy;
ἐγίνοντο δὲ περὶ τὸ σῴζειν ἑαυτούς, βραχείας σφίσι καὶ περὶ τοῦτο τὸ μέρος ἐλπίδος ἔτι καταλειπομένης.
and they turned their attention to saving themselves, though even in this regard only a small hope was still left to them.
τό τε γὰρ πῦρ ταχέως ἐπενέμετο καὶ περιελάμβανε πάντας τοὺς τόπους, αἵ τε δίοδοι πλήρεις ἦσαν ἵππων, ὑποζυγίων, ἀνδρῶν, τῶν μὲν ἡμιθνήτων καὶ διεφθαρμένων ὑπὸ τοῦ πυρός, τῶν δʼ ἐξεπτοημένων καὶ παρεστώτων ταῖς διανοίαις,4 ὥστε καὶ τοῖς ἀνδραγαθεῖν προαιρουμένοις ἐμπόδια ταῦτα γίνεσθαι, καὶ διὰ τὴν ταραχὴν καὶ σύγχυσιν ἀνέλπιστον εἶναι τὴν σωτηρίαν.
For the fire spread rapidly and encompassed every place, and the passages were full of horses, beasts of burden, and men—some half-dead and destroyed by the fire, others terrified and out of their minds— so that these things became obstacles even to those who chose to act bravely, and because of the confusion and disorder, safety was beyond hope.
παραπλήσια δὲ τούτοις ἦν καὶ τὰ περὶ τὸν Σόφακα καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους ἡγεμόνας. πλὴν οὗτοι μὲν ἀμφότεροι μετʼ ὀλίγων ἱππέων ἐξέσωσαν αὑτούς·
The situation of Syphax and the other commanders was similar to this. However, both of these escaped with a few horsemen;
αἱ δὲ λοιπαὶ μυριάδες ἀνδρῶν, ἵππων, ὑποζυγίων, ἀτυχῶς μὲν καὶ ἐλεεινῶς ὑπὸ τοῦ πυρὸς ἀπώλλυντο·
but the remaining tens of thousands of men, horses, and beasts of burden perished miserably and pitiably by the fire.
αἰσχρῶς δὲ καὶ ἐπονειδίστως ἔνιοι τῶν ἀνδρῶν, τὴν τοῦ πυρὸς βίαν φεύγοντες, ὑπὸ τῶν πολεμίων διεφθείροντο, χωρὶς οὐ μόνον τῶν ὅπλων, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν ἱματίων, γυμνοὶ φονευόμενοι.
And some of the men, fleeing from the violence of the fire, were destroyed shamefully and reproachfully by the enemy, being slaughtered naked, deprived not only of their arms but even of their clothes.
καθόλου δὲ πᾶς ἦν ὁ τόπος οἰμωγῆς, βοῆς ἀτάκτου, φόβου, ψόφου παρηλλαγμένου, σὺν δὲ τούτοις πυρὸς ἐνεργοῦ καὶ φλογὸς ὑπερβαλλούσης πλήρης·
In general, the whole place was full of lamentation, confused shouting, fear, and strange noise, and therewith of active fire and towering flame;
ὧν ἓν ἱκανὸν [ὂν] ἐκπλῆξαι τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην φύσιν, μηδʼ ὅτι5 καὶ πάνθʼ ὁμοῦ συγκυρήσαντα παραδόξως.
any one of which would be sufficient to strike terror into human nature, not to mention all of them happening together so unexpectedly.
διὸ καὶ τὸ γεγονὸς οὐδὲ καθʼ ὑπερβολὴν εἰκάσαι δυνατὸν οὐδενὶ τῶν ὄντων ἐστίν· οὕτως ὑπερπεπαίκει τῇ δεινότητι πάσας τὰς προειρημένας πράξεις.
Therefore, it is not possible, even by exaggeration, to compare what happened to any existing thing; so far did it surpass in horror all previously recorded events.
ᾗ καὶ πολλῶν καὶ καλῶν διειργασμένων Σκιπίωνι6 κάλλιστον εἶναί μοι δοκεῖ τοῦτο τοὔργον καὶ παραβολώτατον τῶν ἐκείνῳ πεπραγμένων
Wherefore, although many splendid deeds were accomplished by Scipio, this work seems to me to be the most splendid and the most hazardous of all that were performed by him.
- 14.5.1ἐξ αὐτῆς
Used adverbially as an idiomatic expression meaning "immediately, at once" (εὐθέως). Although it could grammatically refer to "directly from the camp itself" (ἐξ αὐτῆς τῆς παρεμβολῆς), the temporal sense "at once" is more natural in contrast to the reaction of the rest of the Carthaginians described in the next sentence.
- 14.5.3τῶν πραγμάτων ὡς ἂν εἰ κατʼ εὐχὴν αὐτῷ προχωρησάντων
Genitive absolute construction. The particle combination ὡς ἂν εἰ ("as if", "just as if") is used to describe metaphorically that the events proceeded exactly as Scipio would have wished.
- 14.5.5τοῦ μὲν τῷ πυρὶ βοηθεῖν
Genitive infinitive phrase serving as the complement (genitive of separation) after the verb ἀπέστησαν ("desisted from"), indicating their abandonment of the attempt to assist in extinguishing the fire.
- 14.5.7παρεστώτων ταῖς διανοίαις
Perfect participle of παρίστημι (intransitive) with the dative ταῖς διανοίαις, an idiomatic phrase meaning "out of one's mind", "distracted", or "unhinged in intellect".
- 14.5.13μηδʼ ὅτι
An idiomatic phrase meaning "not to mention" or "let alone" (synonymous with μὴ ὅτι), used with a negative connotation. It emphasizes that while any single disaster would have been terrifying, the combination of all of them happening together was exponentially worse.
- 14.5.15Σκιπίωνι
Dative of agent. It is used with the perfect passive participle διειργασμένων ("accomplished") to indicate that Scipio is the agent who performed these deeds.