- 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-grc2:18.13.1-18.13.11
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-09
The author discusses the difficulty of defining what constitutes a "traitor," arguing for the legitimacy of flexible political decisions depending on circumstances by citing the example of Aristaenus, whose realignment of the Achaean League saved their nation from destruction.
ἔμοιγε πολλάκις μὲν καὶ ἐπὶ πολλοῖς θαυμάζειν ἐπέρχεται τῶν ἀνθρωπείων ἁμαρτημάτων,1 μάλιστα δʼ ἐπὶ τῷ κατὰ τοὺς προδότας.
It often occurs to me to wonder at human errors in many cases, but most of all at that which concerns traitors.
διὸ καὶ βούλομαι τὰ πρέποντα τοῖς καιροῖς διαλεχθῆναι περὶ αὐτῶν.
For this reason, I also wish to discuss them in a manner suited to the present occasion.
καίτοι γʼ οὐκ ἀγνοῶ διότι δυσθεώρητον ὁ τόπος2 ἔχει τι καὶ δυσπαράγραφον· τίνα γὰρ ὡς ἀληθῶς προδότην δεῖ νομίζειν, οὐ ῥᾴδιον ἀποφήνασθαι.
And yet indeed I am not ignorant that the subject presents something difficult to observe and difficult to define; for it is not easy to declare whom one ought truly to consider a traitor.
δῆλον γὰρ ὡς οὔτε τοὺς ἐξ ἀκεραίου3 συντιθεμένους τῶν ἀνδρῶν πρός τινας βασιλεῖς ἢ δυνάστας κοινωνίαν πραγμάτων εὐθέως προδότας νομιστέον, οὔτε τοὺς κατὰ τὰς περιστάσεις μετατιθέντας τὰς αὑτῶν πατρίδας ἀπό τινων ὑποκειμένων πρὸς ἑτέρας φιλίας καὶ συμμαχίας, οὐδὲ τούτους.
For it is clear that we should not immediately consider as traitors those of men who, starting from a clean slate, enter into an association of affairs with certain kings or potentates, nor those who, according to circumstances, transfer their own countries from certain existing dependencies to other friendships and alliances, not even these.
πολλοῦ γε δεῖν· ἐπείτοι γε πολλάκις οἱ τοιοῦτοι τῶν μεγίστων ἀγαθῶν γεγόνασιν αἴτιοι ταῖς ἰδίαις πατρίσιν.
Far from it; for indeed such men have often been the cause of the greatest goods to their own countries.
ἵνα δὲ μὴ πόρρωθεν τὰ παραδείγματα φέρωμεν, ἐξ αὐτῶν τῶν ἐνεστώτων ῥᾳδίως ἔσται τὸ λεγόμενον κατανοεῖν.
But, so that we may not bring examples from afar, it will be easy to understand what is being said from the very events now at hand.
εἰ γὰρ μὴ σὺν καιρῷ τότε μετέρριψε τοὺς Ἀχαιοὺς Ἀρίσταινος ἀπὸ τῆς Φιλίππου συμμαχίας πρὸς τὴν Ῥωμαίων, φανερῶς ἄρδην ἀπολώλει4 τὸ ἔθνος.
For if Aristaenus had not at that time seasonably turned the Achaeans from their alliance with Philip to that with the Romans, it is clear that the nation would have been utterly destroyed.
νῦν δὲ χωρὶς τῆς παρʼ αὐτὸν τὸν καιρὸν ἀσφαλείας ἑκάστοις περιγενομένης, αὐξήσεως τῶν Ἀχαιῶν ὁμολογουμένως ὁ προειρημένος ἀνὴρ κἀκεῖνο τὸ διαβούλιον αἴτιος ἐδόκει γεγονέναι·
But as it is, apart from the safety that fell to each at that very moment, the aforementioned man and that decree were by common consent held to have been the cause of the growth of the Achaeans;
διὸ καὶ πάντες αὐτὸν οὐχ ὡς προδότην, ἀλλʼ ὡς εὐεργέτην καὶ σωτῆρα τῆς χώρας ἐτίμων.
wherefore also everyone honored him not as a traitor, but as a benefactor and savior of the country.
ὁ δʼ αὐτὸς ἂν εἴη λόγος καὶ περὶ τῶν ἄλλων, ὅσοι κατὰ τὰς τῶν καιρῶν περιστάσεις τὰ παραπλήσια τούτοις πολιτεύονται καὶ πράττουσιν.
And the same reasoning would apply also to others, as many as conduct policy and act in a manner similar to these according to the circumstances of the times.
- 18.13.1τῶν ἀνθρωπείων ἁμαρτημάτων
Genitive of cause or object associated with the verb θαυμάζειν ("to wonder at" or "to be astonished by").
- 18.13.3ὁ τόπος
Here ὁ τόπος (literally "place") refers to the "theme" or "topic" of discussion.
- 18.13.4ἐξ ἀκεραίου
A prepositional phrase meaning "from a clean slate" or "from a neutral position free from any prior obligations or constraints."
- 18.13.8ἀπολώλει
In the apodosis of a past contrafactual conditional sentence (εἰ μὴ ... μετέρριψε), the particle ἄν is omitted, and the past indicative (here pluperfect) is used alone to emphasize the certainty or inevitability of the result.