- 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-grc2:2.16.1-2.16.15
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-12
This section describes the geographical characteristics of Northern Italy, including the inhabited areas and course of the Apennine range, the source and flow of the River Po (Padus), and the author's decision to defer discussing its mythological traditions.
μενούσης ἀεὶ χιόνος1 ἀοίκητα τελέως ἐστίν. τὸν δʼ Ἀπεννῖνον2 ἀπὸ μὲν τῆς ἀρχῆς τῆς ὑπὲρ Μασσαλίαν καὶ τῆς πρὸς τὰς Ἄλπεις συμπτώσεως Λιγυστῖνοι κατοικοῦσιν, καὶ τὴν ἐπὶ τὸ Τυρρηνικὸν πέλαγος αὐτοῦ πλευρὰν κεκλιμένην καὶ τὴν ἐπὶ τὰ πεδία, παρὰ θάλατταν μὲν μέχρι πόλεως Πίσης, ἣ πρώτη κεῖται τῆς Τυρρηνίας ὡς πρὸς τὰς δυσμάς, κατὰ δὲ τὴν μεσόγαιον ἕως τῆς Ἀρρητίνων χώρας.
...the snow remaining forever, it is completely uninhabitable. As for the Apennine range, from its very beginning above Massalia and its junction with the Alps, the Ligurians inhabit it, both its slope inclined towards the Tyrrhenian Sea and that towards the plains, along the coast as far as the city of Pisa, which is the first city of Tyrrhenia situated towards the west, and in the interior as far as the territory of the Arretines.
ἑξῆς δὲ Τυρρηνοί· τούτοις δὲ συνεχεῖς ἑκάτερον τὸ κλίμα3 νέμονται τῶν προειρημένων ὀρῶν Ὄμβροι.
Next are the Tyrrhenians, and continuous with them, the Umbrians occupy both slopes of the aforementioned mountains.
λοιπὸν ὁ μὲν Ἀπεννῖνος ἀπέχων τῆς κατὰ τὸν Ἀδρίαν θαλάττης σταδίους ὡσανεὶ πεντακοσίους ἀπολείπει τὰ πεδία δεξιὸς ἀπονεύων, καὶ διὰ μέσης τῆς λοιπῆς Ἰταλίας διήκων εἰς τὸ Σικελικὸν κατατείνει πέλαγος.
For the rest, the Apennines, at a distance of about five hundred stades from the Adriatic Sea, leave the plains, bending off to the right, and running through the middle of the rest of Italy, reach as far as the Sicilian Sea.
τὸ δʼ ἀπολειπόμενον μέρος πεδινὸν τῆς πλευρᾶς ἐπὶ θάλατταν καὶ πόλιν καθήκει Σήνην.
The remaining flat part of the slope comes down to the sea and the city of Sena.
ὁ δὲ Πάδος ποταμός, ὑπὸ δὲ τῶν ποιητῶν Ἠριδανὸς θρυλούμενος, ἔχει μὲν τὰς πηγὰς ἀπὸ τῶν Ἄλπεων ὡς πρὸς τὴν κορυφὴν μᾶλλον τοῦ προειρημένου σχήματος, καταφέρεται δʼ εἰς τὰ πεδία, ποιούμενος τὴν ῥύσιν ὡς ἐπὶ μεσημβρίαν.
The river Po, celebrated by the poets as Eridanus, has its source in the Alps, rather towards the apex of the aforementioned configuration, and is carried down into the plains, making its course towards the south.
ἀφικόμενος δʼ εἰς τοὺς ἐπιπέδους τόπους, ἐκκλίνας τῷ ῥεύματι πρὸς ἕω φέρεται διʼ αὐτῶν· ποιεῖ δὲ τὴν ἐκβολὴν δυσὶ στόμασιν εἰς τοὺς κατὰ τὸν Ἀδρίαν τόπους· τὸ δὲ πλεῖον ἀποτέμνεται μέρος τῆς πεδιάδος χώρας εἰς τὰς Ἄλπεις καὶ τὸν Ἀδριατικὸν μυχόν.
On reaching the level ground, it turns its stream towards the east and flows through it, discharging itself by two mouths into the districts of the Adriatic; the greater part of the plain country is cut off between the Alps and the innermost recess of the Adriatic.
ἄγει δὲ πλῆθος ὕδατος οὐδενὸς ἔλαττον τῶν κατὰ τὴν Ἰταλίαν ποταμῶν διὰ τὸ τὰς ῥύσεις τὰς ἐπὶ τὰ πεδία νευούσας ἀπό τε τῶν Ἄλπεων καὶ τῶν Ἀπεννίνων ὀρῶν εἰς τοῦτον ἐμπίπτειν ἁπάσας καὶ πανταχόθεν.
It carries a volume of water not less than any of the rivers in Italy, because all the streams sloping towards the plains from both the Alps and the Apennine mountains fall into it from all sides.
μεγίστῳ δὲ καὶ καλλίστῳ ῥεύματι φέρεται περὶ κυνὸς ἐπιτολήν, αὐξόμενος ὑπὸ τοῦ πλήθους τῶν ἀνατηκομένων χιόνων ἐν τοῖς προειρημένοις ὄρεσιν.
It flows with its greatest and most beautiful stream about the rising of the Dog Star, being increased by the quantity of melting snows on the aforementioned mountains.
ἀναπλεῖται δʼ ἐκ θαλάττης κατὰ τὸ στόμα τὸ καλούμενον Ὄλανα σχεδὸν ἐπὶ δισχιλίους σταδίους.
It is navigable up from the sea by the mouth called Olana for nearly two thousand stades.
τὴν μὲν γὰρ πρώτην ἐκ τῶν πηγῶν ἔχει ῥύσιν ἁπλῆν, σχίζεται δʼ εἰς δύο μέρη κατὰ τοὺς προσαγορευομένους Τριγαβόλους· τούτων δὲ τὸ μὲν ἕτερον στόμα προσονομάζεται Παδόα, τὸ δʼ ἕτερον Ὄλανα.
For its first course from its sources is single, but it divides into two parts at the place called Trigaboli; of these, one mouth is called Padoa, and the other Olana.
κεῖται δʼ ἐπὶ τούτῳ λιμήν, οὐδενὸς τῶν κατὰ τὸν Ἀδρίαν ἥττω παρεχόμενος ἀσφάλειαν τοῖς ἐν αὐτῷ καθορμιζομένοις. παρά γε μὴν τοῖς ἐγχωρίοις ὁ ποταμὸς προσαγορεύεται Βόδεγκος.
At this latter mouth there is a harbor, which offers to those who anchor in it a safety not inferior to any of those in the Adriatic. By the natives indeed the river is called Bodencus.
τἄλλα δὲ τὰ4 περὶ τὸν ποταμὸν τοῦτον ἱστορούμενα παρὰ τοῖς Ἕλλησι, λέγω δὴ τὰ περὶ Φαέθοντα καὶ τὴν ἐκείνου πτῶσιν, ἔτι δὲ τὰ δάκρυα τῶν αἰγείρων καὶ τοὺς μελανείμονας τοὺς περὶ τὸν ποταμὸν οἰκοῦντας, οὕς φασι τὰς ἐσθῆτας εἰσέτι νῦν φορεῖν τοιαύτας ἀπὸ τοῦ κατὰ Φαέθοντα πένθους, καὶ πᾶσαν δὴ τὴν τραγικὴν καὶ ταύτῃ προσεοικυῖαν ὕλην ἐπὶ μὲν τοῦ παρόντος ὑπερθησόμεθα διὰ τὸ μὴ λίαν καθήκειν τῷ τῆς προκατασκευῆς γένει τὴν περὶ τῶν τοιούτων ἀκριβολογίαν.
The other stories told about this river by the Greeks—I mean those about Phaethon and his fall, and further the tears of the poplars, and the black-clad people who dwell about the river, who they say still wear such garments from their mourning for Phaethon, and indeed all such tragic and similar material, we shall pass over for the present, because a detailed discussion of such things is not very suitable to the character of an introductory outline.
μεταλαβόντες δὲ καιρὸν ἁρμόττοντα ποιησόμεθα τὴν καθήκουσαν μνήμην, καὶ μάλιστα διὰ τὴν Τιμαίου περὶ τοὺς προειρημένους τόπους ἄγνοιαν.
But we shall make the proper mention when we find a suitable opportunity, especially because of Timaeus’s ignorance concerning the aforementioned places.
- 2.16.1μενούσης ἀεὶ χιόνος
A genitive absolute construction expressing cause ('because the snow remains forever'). It continues the context from the end of the previous section (2.15.10), which describes the mountain heights.
- 2.16.1τὸν δʼ Ἀπεννῖνον
An accusative noun placed at the beginning of the sentence, serving as the direct object of the subsequent verb κατοικοῦσιν. It is preposed for topicalization.
- 2.16.3ἑκάτερον τὸ κλίμα
An accusative noun phrase. It is the direct object of the verb νέμονται, whose grammatical subject is Ὄμβροι (the Umbrians).
- 2.16.13τἄλλα δὲ τὰ ...
This accusative phrase (along with πᾶσαν ... τὴν τραγικὴν ... ὕλην in 16.14) serves as the direct object of the verb ὑπερθησόμεθα ('we shall pass over/postpone') in 16.14, placed at the beginning of a long sentence structure for prominence.