- 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-grc2:16.11.1-16.11.6
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-08
During the siege of Prinassos, Philip, unable to dig actual mines due to the rocky ground, deceived the inhabitants by creating noise during the day and piling earth at night, successfully forcing them to surrender under the threat of burning the imaginary supports.
μετὰ ταῦτα δὲ ποιησάμενος ὁ Φίλιππός τινας ἀπράκτους προσβολὰς διὰ τὴν ὀχυρότητα τοῦ πολίσματος αὖθις ἀπεχώρει, πορθῶν τὰ φρούρια καὶ τὰς κατὰ τὴν χώραν συνοικίας.
After this, Philip, having made some fruitless assaults owing to the strength of the town, withdrew again, plundering the forts and the villages throughout the country.
ὅθεν ἀπαλλαττόμενος προσεστρατοπέδευσε τῇ Πρινασσῷ. ταχὺ δὲ γέρρα καὶ τὴν τοιαύτην ἑτοιμάσας παρασκευὴν ἤρξατο πολιορκεῖν διὰ τῶν μετάλλων.
Departing from there, he encamped near Prinassos; and quickly preparing wicker screens and suchlike equipment, he began to besiege it by means of mines.
οὔσης δʼ ἀπράκτου τῆς ἐπιβολῆς αὐτῷ διὰ τὸ πετρώδη τὸν τόπον ὑπάρχειν ἐπινοεῖ τι τοιοῦτον.
But as this attempt was fruitless for him because the ground was rocky, he devised the following plan.
τὰς μὲν ἡμέρας ψόφον ἐποίει κατὰ γῆς, ὡς ἐνεργουμένων τῶν μετάλλων,1 τὰς δὲ νύκτας ἔξωθεν ἔφερε χοῦν καὶ παρέβαλλε παρὰ τὰ στόμια τῶν ὀρυγμάτων, ὥστε διὰ τοῦ πλήθους τῆς σωρευομένης γῆς στοχαζομένους2 καταπλαγεῖς γενέσθαι τοὺς ἐν τῇ πόλει.
During the day he made a noise underground, as if the mines were being actively worked, and during the night he brought soil from outside and piled it up by the mouths of the excavations, so that the people in the city, guessing from the quantity of the accumulated earth, were struck with terror.
τὰς μὲν οὖν ἀρχὰς ὑπέμενον οἱ Πρινασσεῖς εὐγενῶς· ἐπεὶ δὲ προσπέμψας ὁ Φίλιππος ἐνεφάνιζε διότι πρὸς δύο πλέθρα τοῦ τείχους αὐτοῖς3 ἐξήρεισται, καὶ προσεπυνθάνετο πότερα βούλονται λαβόντες τὴν ἀσφάλειαν ἐκχωρεῖν ἢ μετὰ τῆς πόλεως συναπολέσθαι πανδημεί, τῶν ἐρεισμάτων ἐμπρησθέντων, τηνικάδε πιστεύσαντες τοῖς λεγομένοις παρέδοσαν τὴν πόλιν. —
At first, then, the citizens of Prinassos held out bravely; but when Philip sent a message pointing out that two plethra of their wall had been undermined and shored up, and inquired whether they preferred to withdraw with a guarantee of safety, or to perish utterly with their city when the shores were set on fire, they then, believing what was said, surrendered the city.
- 16.11.4ὡς ἐνεργουμένων τῶν μετάλλων
Genitive absolute construction with the conjunction ὡς. Rather than presenting an objective fact, it indicates a subjective presentation or pretext, meaning 'as if the mines were being actively worked' when they were not.
- 16.11.4στοχαζομένους
An accusative plural masculine present participle in the ὥστε clause of result, agreeing in gender, number, and case with τοὺς ἐν τῇ πόλει, which is the subject accusative of the infinitive γενέσθαι, showing that the citizens are the ones who do the guessing.
- 16.11.5αὐτοῖς
Dative plural of the third-person pronoun. Here, used in connection with the perfect passive verb ἐξήρεισται (from ἐρείδω, 'to shore up'), it functions as a dative of disadvantage ('to their detriment' or 'for them').