- 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-grc2:2.58.1-2.58.15
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-11
Polybius severely criticizes the historian Phylarchus for introducing exaggerations and falsehoods concerning the fate of the Mantineans, who had betrayed the Achaeans and slaughtered their garrison. He exposes the inconsistency of Phylarchus's account by comparing it with the treatment of Tegea under similar circumstances.
θρωπίαν.1 μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα προορώμενοι τὰς ἐν αὑτοῖς στάσεις καὶ τὰς ὑπʼ Αἰτωλῶν καὶ Λακεδαιμονίων ἐπιβουλάς, πρεσβεύσαντες πρὸς τοὺς Ἀχαιοὺς ἠξίωσαν δοῦναι παραφυλακὴν αὑτοῖς.
ness. After this, anticipating the factions among themselves and the plots by the Aetolians and Lacedaemonians, they sent ambassadors to the Achaeans and requested them to grant them a guard.
οἱ δὲ πεισθέντες ἀπεκλήρωσαν ἐξ αὑτῶν τριακοσίους ἄνδρας· ὧν οἱ λαχόντες ὥρμησαν, ἀπολιπόντες τὰς ἰδίας πατρίδας καὶ τοὺς βίους, καὶ διέτριβον ἐν Μαντινείᾳ, παραφυλάττοντες τὴν ἐκείνων ἐλευθερίαν ἅμα καὶ σωτηρίαν.
And they, being persuaded, chose by lot from among themselves three hundred men; of whom those who drew the lot set out, leaving behind their own homelands and livelihoods, and remained in Mantinea, guarding at once their freedom and safety.
σὺν δὲ τούτοις καὶ μισθοφόρους διακοσίους ἐξέπεμψαν, οἳ μετὰ τῶν Ἀχαιῶν συνδιετήρουν τὴν ὑποκειμένην αὐτοῖς κατάστασιν.
And along with these they also sent out two hundred mercenaries, who together with the Achaeans preserved for them the established order.
μετʼ οὐ πολὺ δὲ στασιάσαντες πρὸς σφᾶς οἱ Μαντινεῖς καὶ Λακεδαιμονίους ἐπισπασάμενοι τήν τε πόλιν ἐνεχείρισαν καὶ τοὺς παρὰ τῶν Ἀχαιῶν διατρίβοντας παρʼ αὑτοῖς κατέσφαξαν· οὗ μεῖζον παρασπόνδημα καὶ δεινότερον οὐδʼ εἰπεῖν εὐμαρές.
But not long afterwards, having fallen into factional strife among themselves and having invited the Lacedaemonians, the Mantineans surrendered the city and slaughtered those from the Achaeans who were staying among them; than which a greater treaty-violation and more terrible deed is not even easy to speak of.
ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἔδοξε σφίσι2 καθόλου τὴν πρὸς τὸ ἔθνος χάριν καὶ φιλίαν ἀθετεῖν, τῶν γε προειρημένων ἀνδρῶν ἐχρῆν δήπου φεισαμένους ἐᾶσαι πάντας ὑποσπόνδους ἀπελθεῖν·
For since they decided to reject entirely their gratitude and friendship toward the league, they ought surely, sparing at least the aforementioned men, to have allowed them all to depart under truce;
τοῦτο γὰρ καὶ τοῖς πολεμίοις ἔθος ἐστὶ συγχωρεῖσθαι κατὰ τοὺς κοινοὺς τῶν ἀνθρώπων νόμους.
for this is customary even for enemies to be granted according to the common laws of mankind.
οἱ δʼ ἵνα Κλεομένει καὶ Λακεδαιμονίοις ἱκανὴν παράσχωνται πίστιν πρὸς τὴν ἐνεστῶσαν ἐπιβολήν, τὰ κοινὰ τῶν ἀνθρώπων δίκαια παραβάντες τὸ μέγιστον ἀσέβημα κατὰ προαίρεσιν ἐπετέλεσαν.
But they, in order to provide sufficient pledge to Cleomenes and the Lacedaemonians for the impending enterprise, having transgressed the common rights of mankind, committed the greatest impiety by deliberate choice.
τὸ γὰρ τούτων αὐτόχειρας γενέσθαι3 καὶ τιμωροὺς οἵτινες πρότερον μὲν κατὰ κράτος λαβόντες αὐτοὺς ἀθῴους ἀφῆκαν, τότε δὲ τὴν ἐκείνων ἐλευθερίαν καὶ σωτηρίαν ἐφύλαττον, πηλίκης ὀργῆς ἐστιν ἄξιον;
For to become the executioners and punishers of those who previously, having captured them by force, let them go unharmed, and at that time were guarding their freedom and safety—of how great anger is it worthy?
τί δʼ ἂν παθόντες4 οὗτοι δίκην δόξαιεν ἁρμόζουσαν δεδωκέναι; τυχὸν ἴσως εἴποι τις ἄν, πραθέντες μετὰ τέκνων καὶ γυναικῶν, ἐπεὶ κατεπολεμήθησαν.
And what having suffered would these men be thought to have paid a fitting penalty? Perhaps someone might say: having been sold, along with their children and wives, when they were utterly defeated in war.
ἀλλὰ τοῦτό γε καὶ τοῖς μηθὲν ἀσεβὲς ἐπιτελεσαμένοις κατὰ τοὺς τοῦ πολέμου νόμους ὑπόκειται παθεῖν. οὐκοῦν ὁλοσχερεστέρας τινὸς καὶ μείζονος τυχεῖν ἦσαν ἄξιοι τιμωρίας, ὥστʼ εἴπερ ἔπαθον ἃ Φύλαρχός φησιν, οὐκ ἔλεον εἰκὸς ἦν συνεξακολουθεῖν αὐτοῖς παρὰ τῶν Ἑλλήνων, ἔπαινον δὲ καὶ συγκατάθεσιν5 μᾶλλον τοῖς πράττουσι καὶ μεταπορευομένοις τὴν ἀσέβειαν αὐτῶν.
But this at least lies before even those who have committed no impiety to suffer according to the laws of war. Therefore they were worthy of obtaining some more complete and greater punishment, so that if indeed they suffered what Phylarchus says, it was not reasonable that pity should follow them from the Greeks, but rather praise and approval for those who did it and prosecuted their impiety.
ἀλλʼ ὅμως οὐδενὸς περαιτέρω συνεξακολουθήσαντος Μαντινεῦσι κατὰ τὴν περιπέτειαν πλὴν τοῦ διαρπαγῆναι τοὺς βίους καὶ πραθῆναι τοὺς ἐλευθέρους, ὁ συγγραφεὺς αὐτῆς τῆς τερατείας χάριν οὐ μόνον ψεῦδος εἰσήνεγκε τὸ ὅλον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ ψεῦδος ἀπίθανον, καὶ διὰ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῆς ἀγνοίας οὐδὲ τὸ παρακείμενον6 ἠδυνήθη συνεπιστῆσαι, πῶς οἱ αὐτοὶ κατὰ τοὺς αὐτοὺς καιροὺς κυριεύσαντες Τεγεατῶν κατὰ κράτος οὐδὲν τῶν ὁμοίων ἔπραξαν.
But nevertheless, although nothing further followed the Mantineans in their reverse except that their property was plundered and the free citizens sold, the historian, for the sake of the sensationalism itself, not only introduced a falsehood as a whole, but also an implausible falsehood, and through the excess of his ignorance was not even able to notice what was lying right next to him: how the same men, having mastered the Tegeans by force at the same times, did nothing of the sort.
καίτοι γʼ εἰ μὲν ἡ τῶν πραττόντων ὠμότης ἦν αἰτία, καὶ τούτους εἰκὸς ἦν πεπονθέναι ταὐτὰ τοῖς ὑπὸ τὸν αὐτὸν ὑποπεπτωκόσι καιρόν.
And yet, if the cruelty of the perpetrators had been the cause, it was reasonable that these men too should have suffered the same things, having fallen under them at the same time.
εἰ δὲ περὶ μόνους γέγονε Μαντινεῖς ἡ διαφορά, φανερὸν ὅτι καὶ τὴν αἰτίαν τῆς ὀργῆς ἀνάγκη διαφέρουσαν γεγονέναι περὶ τούτους.
But if the difference occurred regarding the Mantineans alone, it is clear that the cause of the anger too must have been different regarding them.
- 2.58.1θρωπίαν
Together with φιλαν at the end of the previous chunk, it forms the single word φιλανθρωπίαν (accusative singular). The translation completes the word by picking up the translation from the end of the previous chunk.
- 2.58.5ἔδοξε σφίσι
The impersonal verb ἔδοξε is combined with the dative σφίσι (the Mantineans) to mean 'they decided' (literally, 'it seemed good to them'), with the infinitive ἀθετεῖν (to reject) acting as the subject. Additionally, τὸ ἔθνος here refers specifically to the Achaean League rather than a nation or ethnos in a general sense.
- 2.58.8τὸ γὰρ τούτων αὐτόχειρας γενέσθαι
The articular infinitive clause τὸ ... γενέσθαι is the subject of the sentence. The genitive τούτων is an objective genitive depending on αὐτόχειρας and τιμωρούς, which are complements of the infinitive γενέσθαι ('to become executioners and punishers of them'). The predicate is πηλίκης ὀργῆς ἐστιν ἄξιον;, where πηλίκης ὀργῆς is a genitive of value.
- 2.58.9τί δʼ ἂν παθόντες
A combination of the interrogative pronoun τί, the participle παθόντες (which contains a conditional force), the potential particle ἄν, and the optative verb δόξαιεν. It expresses a hypothetical or potential condition: 'having suffered what, would they be thought...?'
- 2.58.11ἔπαινον δὲ καὶ συγκατάθεσιν
The accusatives ἔπαινον (praise) and συγκατάθεσιν (approval) are contrasted with the preceding accusative subject ἔλεον in οὐκ ἔλεον εἰκὸς ἦν συνεξακολουθεῖν (it was not reasonable that pity should follow), serving as alternative accusative subjects for the infinitive συνεξακολουθεῖν introduced by the impersonal εἰκὸς ἦν.
- 2.58.13τὸ παρακείμενον
A neuter participle meaning 'that which lies nearby' or 'the immediate fact.' The following πῶς clause (an indirect question: 'how the same men...') explains its concrete content.