- 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-grc2:23.17.1-23.17.12
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-11
The Messenian revolt is resolved with their reinstatement into the Achaean League, while neighboring cities join individually. Observing the Achaeans' success, Rome shifts its diplomatic stance, prompting Lycortas to propose admitting Sparta into the League, a move opposed by Diophanes.
ὅτι οἱ Μεσσήνιοι διὰ τὴν αὑτῶν ἄγνοιαν εἰς τὴν ἐσχάτην παραγενόμενοι διάθεσιν ἀποκατέστησαν εἰς τὴν ἐξ ἀρχῆς κατάστασιν τῆς συμπολιτείας διὰ τὴν Λυκόρτα1 καὶ τῶν Ἀχαιῶν μεγαλοψυχίαν.
That the Messenians, having brought themselves to the brink of ruin through their own folly, were restored to their original position in the league through the magnanimity of Lycortas and the Achaeans.
ἡ δʼ Ἀβία καὶ Θουρία καὶ Φαραὶ κατὰ τὸν καιρὸν τοῦτον ἀπὸ μὲν τῆς Μεσσήνης ἐχωρίσθησαν, ἰδίᾳ δὲ θέμεναι στήλην ἑκάστη μετεῖχεν τῆς κοινῆς συμπολιτείας.
At this time, Abia, Thuria, and Pharae separated themselves from Messene, and each setting up a pillar of treaty individually, they associated themselves with the common league.
Ῥωμαῖοι δὲ πυθόμενοι κατὰ λόγον κεχωρηκέναι τοῖς Ἀχαιοῖς τὰ κατὰ τὴν Μεσσήνην, οὐδένα λόγον ποιησάμενοι τῆς πρότερον ἀποφάσεως ἄλλην ἔδωκαν τοῖς αὐτοῖς πρεσβευταῖς ἀπόκρισιν, διασαφοῦντες ὅτι πρόνοιαν πεποίηνται τοῦ μηθένα τῶν ἐξ Ἰταλίας μήθʼ ὅπλα μήτε σῖτον εἰσάγειν2 εἰς τὴν Μεσσήνην.
The Romans, when they learned that the affairs of Messene had turned out successfully for the Achaeans, paying no attention to their former declaration, gave a different answer to the same envoys, explaining that they had taken precautions that no one from Italy should export either arms or corn to Messene.
ἐξ οὗ καταφανεῖς ἅπασιν ἐγενήθησαν ὅτι τοσοῦτον ἀπέχουσιν τοῦ τὰ μὴ λίαν ἀναγκαῖα τῶν ἐκτὸς πραγμάτων ἀποτρίβεσθαι καὶ παρορᾶν, ὡς3 τοὐναντίον καὶ δυσχεραίνουσιν ἐπὶ τῷ μὴ πάντων τὴν ἀναφορὰν ἐφʼ ἑαυτοὺς γίνεσθαι καὶ πάντα πράττεσθαι μετὰ τῆς αὑτῶν γνώμης.
From this it became manifest to all that they were so far from putting aside and neglecting external matters that were not very pressing, that on the contrary they were even displeased when the reference of all matters was not made to themselves, and when everything was not done according to their own judgment.
εἰς δὲ τὴν Λακεδαίμονα παραγενομένων τῶν πρεσβευτῶν ἐκ τῆς Ῥώμης καὶ κομιζόντων τὴν ἀπόκρισιν, εὐθέως ὁ στρατηγὸς τῶν Ἀχαιῶν μετὰ τὸ συντελέσαι τὰ κατὰ τὴν Μεσσήνην συνῆγε τοὺς πολλοὺς εἰς τὴν τῶν Σικυωνίων πόλιν.
When the envoys arrived in Lacedaemon from Rome bringing this answer, the general of the Achaeans, immediately after completing the settlement of Messene, summoned the assembly to the city of Sicyon.
ἁθροισθέντων δὲ τῶν Ἀχαιῶν ἀνεδίδου διαβούλιον ὑπὲρ τοῦ προσλαβέσθαι τὴν Σπάρτην εἰς τὴν συμπολιτείαν, φάσκων Ῥωμαίους μὲν ἀποτρίβεσθαι τὴν πρότερον αὐτοῖς δοθεῖσαν ἐπιτροπὴν ὑπὲρ τῆς πόλεως ταύτης· ἀποκεκρίσθαι γὰρ αὐτοὺς νῦν μηθὲν εἶναι τῶν κατὰ Λακεδαίμονα πραγμάτων πρὸς αὑτούς·
When the Achaeans had assembled, he submitted for deliberation the question of admitting Sparta into the league, declaring that the Romans were setting aside the arbitration previously entrusted to them concerning this city; for they had now answered that the affairs of Lacedaemon were nothing to them;
τοὺς δὲ κυριεύοντας τῆς Σπάρτης κατὰ τὸ παρὸν βούλεσθαι σφίσιν μετέχειν τῆς συμπολιτείας.
and that those who currently held power in Sparta wished to share the league with them.
διὸ παρεκάλει προσδέχεσθαι τὴν πόλιν· εἶναι γὰρ τοῦτο κατὰ δύο τρόπους συμφέρον, καθʼ ἕνα μέν, ὅτι τούτους μέλλουσι προσλήψεσθαι τοὺς διατετηρηκότας τὴν πρὸς τὸ ἔθνος πίστιν, καθʼ ἕτερον δέ, διότι τῶν ἀρχαίων φυγάδων τοὺς4 ἀχαρίστως καὶ ἀσεβῶς ἀνεστραμμένους εἰς αὐτοὺς οὐχ ἕξουσι κοινωνοὺς τῆς πολιτείας, ἀλλʼ ἑτέρων αὐτοὺς ἐκκεκλεικότων τῆς πόλεως, βεβαιώσαντες τὰς ἐκείνων προαιρέσεις ἅμα τὴν ἁρμόζουσαν αὐτοῖς χάριν ἀποδώσουσι μετὰ τῆς τῶν θεῶν προνοίας.
Therefore, he exhorted them to receive the city; for this was advantageous in two ways: in one way, because they were about to receive those who had preserved their loyalty to the league, and in another way, because they would not have as partners in their state those among the ancient exiles who had behaved ungratefully and impiously toward them, but rather, while others had shut them out of the city, by confirming the choices of the latter, they would at the same time render them the appropriate gratitude with the providence of the gods.
ὁ μὲν οὖν Λυκόρτας ταῦτα καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα λέγων παρεκάλει τοὺς Ἀχαιοὺς προσδέξασθαι τὴν πόλιν·
Lycortas, then, by saying these and similar things, exhorted the Achaeans to receive the city;
ὁ δὲ Διοφάνης καί τινες ἕτεροι βοηθεῖν ἐπειρῶντο τοῖς φυγάσι καὶ παρεκάλουν τοὺς Ἀχαιοὺς μὴ συνεπιθέσθαι τοῖς ἐκπεπτωκόσιν μηδὲ διʼ ὀλίγους ἀνθρώπους συνεπισχῦσαι τοῖς ἀσεβῶς καὶ παρανόμως αὐτοὺς ἐκ τῆς πατρίδος5
but Diophanes and some others tried to help the exiles, and exhorted the Achaeans not to join in attacking those who had been expelled, nor, for the sake of a few men, to support those who had impiously and unlawfully [driven] them from their fatherland...
- 23.17.1διὰ τὴν Λυκόρτα
The name Λυκόρτας is a first-declension masculine noun. Following the preposition διά and the article τὴν, we expect the genitive Λυκόρτου (or Λυκόρτα). The reading Λυκόρτας may be an uninflected nominative form in the manuscript transmission or a late genitive variant.
- 23.17.3τοῦ μηθένα ... εἰσάγειν
A genitive infinitive construction (τοῦ with infinitive) acting as an appositive explaining the content of the noun πρόνοιαν. The subject of the infinitive is the accusative μηθένα, and the multiple negatives μηθένα... μήθʼ... μήτε reinforce the categorical negative meaning within the clause.
- 23.17.4τοσοῦτον ἀπέχουσιν τοῦ ... ὡς ...
A correlative idiom meaning 'they are so far from [doing X], that on the contrary [Y is the case]'. The verb τοσοῦτον ἀπέχω governs the genitive infinitive τοῦ ἀποτρίβεσθαι καὶ παρορᾶν, with the consecutive conjunction ὡς (equivalent to ὥστε) introducing the paradoxical actual result.
- 23.17.10τῶν ἀρχαίων φυγάδων τοὺς ...
The leading genitive phrase τῶν ἀρχαίων φυγάδων is a partitive genitive qualifying the subsequent accusative attributive participle τοὺς ... ἀνεστραμμένους, placed first for emphasis through hyperbaton.
- 23.17.12τοῖς ἀσεβῶς καὶ παρανόμως αὐτοὺς ἐκ τῆς πατρίδος
The end of this section is incomplete in the manuscript tradition. After the prepositional phrase ἐκ τῆς πατρίδος, a verb governed by the relative or articular dative τοῖς (presumably a participle meaning 'those who are expelling them', such as ἐκβάλλουσιν) is missing.