- 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-grc2:18.54.1-18.54.12
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-09
Scopas is condemned by the council and poisoned, and his impious accomplice Dicaearchus is also executed under severe torture, meeting a fitting end to his insolent life.
ἅμα δὲ τῷ παρελθεῖν εἰς τὸ συνέδριον βραχέα μὲν ὁ βασιλεὺς κατηγόρησε, μετὰ δὲ τοῦτον Πολυκράτης, ἄρτι παραγεγονὼς ἀπὸ Κύπρου, τελευταῖος δʼ Ἀριστομένης.
As soon as he entered the council, the king made a brief accusation, after him Polycrates, who had just arrived from Cyprus, and last of all Aristomenes.
ἦν δὲ τὰ μὲν ἄλλα παραπλήσιος ἡ κατηγορία πάντων τοῖς ἄρτι ῥηθεῖσι, προσετέθη δὲ τοῖς προειρημένοις ἡ μετὰ τῶν φίλων συνεδρεία καὶ τὸ μὴ πειθαρχῆσαι καλούμενον1 ὑπὸ τοῦ βασιλέως.
In other respects, the accusation of all of them was very similar to what was just mentioned, but to what was said before they added his assembly with his friends and his refusal to obey when summoned by the king.
ἐφʼ οἷς οὐ μόνον οἱ τοῦ συνεδρίου κατεγίνωσκον αὐτοῦ πάντες, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν ἔξωθεν τῶν πρεσβευτῶν οἱ συμπαρόντες.
On these charges, not only did all the members of the council condemn him, but also those of the foreign ambassadors who were present.
ὁ δʼ Ἀριστομένης, ὅτε κατηγορεῖν ἔμελλε, πολλοὺς μὲν καὶ ἑτέρους παρέλαβε τῶν ἐπιφανῶν ἀνδρῶν ἀπὸ τῆς Ἑλλάδος, καὶ τοὺς παρὰ τῶν Αἰτωλῶν δὲ πρεσβεύοντας ἐπὶ τὰς διαλύσεις, ἐν οἷς ἦν καὶ Δωρίμαχος ὁ Νικοστράτου.
Now Aristomenes, when he was about to make his accusation, brought in many other illustrious men from Greece, and also the ambassadors from the Aetolians sent to negotiate the peace, among whom was Dorimachus, the son of Nicostratus.
ῥηθέντων δὲ τούτων μεταλαβὼν ὁ Σκόπας ἐπειρᾶτο μὲν φέρειν τινὰς ἀπολογισμούς, οὐδενὸς δὲ προσέχοντος αὐτῷ διὰ τὴν τῶν πραγμάτων ἀλογίαν, εὐθέως οὗτος μὲν εἰς φυλακὴν ἀπήγετο μετὰ τῶν φίλων·
After these speeches had been made, Scopas, taking his turn, attempted to offer some defense, but since no one paid attention to him because of the absurdity of his actions, he was immediately led away to prison along with his friends.
ὁ δʼ Ἀριστομένης ἐπιγενομένης τῆς νυκτὸς τὸν μὲν Σκόπαν καὶ τοὺς συγγενεῖς αὐτοῦ καὶ φίλους πάντας διέφθειρε φαρμάκῳ, Δικαιάρχῳ δὲ καὶ στρέβλας καὶ μάστιγας προσαγαγὼν οὕτως αὐτὸν ἐπανείλετο, λαβὼν παρʼ αὐτοῦ δίκην2 καθήκουσαν καὶ κοινὴν ὑπὲρ πάντων τῶν Ἑλλήνων.
But when night came on, Aristomenes put Scopas and all his relatives and friends to death by poison, while as for Dicaearchus, after subjecting him to the rack and the scourge, he thus put him to death, exacting from him a fitting and common retribution on behalf of all the Greeks.
ὁ γὰρ Δικαίαρχος οὗτος ἦν, ὃν Φίλιππος, ὅτε προέθετο παρασπονδεῖν τὰς Κυκλάδας νήσους καὶ τὰς ἐφʼ Ἑλλησπόντου πόλεις, ἀπέδειξε τοῦ στόλου παντὸς ἡγεμόνα καὶ τῆς ὅλης πράξεως προστάτην.
For this Dicaearchus was the man whom Philip, when he resolved to break his treaty with the Cyclades islands and the cities on the Hellespont, appointed commander of the whole fleet and director of the entire enterprise.
ὃς ἐπὶ πρόδηλον ἀσέβειαν ἐκπεμπόμενος οὐχ οἷον ἄτοπόν τι πράττειν ἐνόμιζεν, ἀλλὰ τῇ τῆς ἀπονοίας ὑπερβολῇ καὶ τοὺς θεοὺς ὑπέλαβε καταπλήξεσθαι καὶ τοὺς ἀνθρώπους·
Sent out for manifest impiety, he not only did not think he was doing anything monstrous, but in the excess of his madness he even supposed he would strike terror into both gods and men;
οὗ γὰρ ὁρμίσειε3 τὰς ναῦς, δύο κατεσκεύαζε βωμούς, τὸν μὲν Ἀσεβείας, τὸν δὲ Παρανομίας, καὶ ἐπὶ τούτοις ἔθυε καὶ τούτους προσεκύνει καθάπερ ἂν εἰ δαίμονας.
for wherever he anchored his ships, he erected two altars, one to Impiety and the other to Lawlessness, and on these he offered sacrifice and worshipped them as if they were deities.
διὸ καὶ δοκεῖ μοι τυχεῖν τῆς ἁρμοζούσης δίκης καὶ παρὰ θεῶν καὶ παρʼ ἀνθρώπων· παρὰ φύσιν γὰρ ἐνστησάμενος τὸν αὑτοῦ βίον εἰκότως παρὰ φύσιν καὶ τῆς εἱμαρμένης ἔτυχε.4
Therefore he seems to me to have met with his fitting punishment both from gods and from men; for having established his own life contrary to nature, he naturally met with a death contrary to nature as well.
τῶν δὲ λοιπῶν Αἰτωλῶν τοὺς βουλομένους εἰς τὴν οἰκείαν ἀπαλλάττεσθαι πάντας
As for the rest of the Aetolians, all who wished to depart for their own country...
- 18.54.2καλούμενον
Passive participle in masculine accusative singular, modifying the omitted subject of the substantivized infinitive τὸ μὴ πειθαρχῆσαι (referring to Scopas in the accusative).
- 18.54.7δίκην
Part of the idiomatic expression δίκην λαμβάνειν (to exact punishment/retribution). It contrasts with δίκην διδόναι (to pay the penalty / be punished) and expresses the active execution of punishment.
- 18.54.10οὗ γὰρ ὁρμίσειε
The optative mood in the relative clause introduced by οὗ expresses a general repetition in past time ('wherever he anchored').
- 18.54.11τῆς εἱμαρμένης ἔτυχε
The verb τυγχάνω takes the genitive case (here τῆς εἱμαρμένης, literally 'destined fate', by extension 'death'), meaning 'to meet with' or 'to attain one's end.'