- 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-grc2:24.10.1-24.10.15
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-11
After hearing Callicrates and the exiles, the Roman Senate decides to strengthen those who support its decrees and weaken those who oppose them, marking the beginning of the decline of the Achaean League. Upon returning, Callicrates is elected general through deceit and restores the exiles.
ὁ μὲν οὖν Καλλικράτης ταῦτα καὶ τοιαῦτʼ εἰπὼν ἀπῆλθεν.
Callicrates, then, after saying this and other things of the kind, departed.
οἱ φυγάδες δʼ ἐπεισελθόντες καὶ βραχέα περὶ αὑτῶν διδάξαντες καί τινα τῶν πρὸς τὸν κοινὸν ἔλεον εἰπόντες ἀνεχώρησαν.
And the exiles, having entered in their turn, explained briefly their own case, and after saying some things to excite common pity, withdrew.
ἡ δὲ σύγκλητος δόξασα τὸν Καλλικράτην λέγειν τι τῶν αὐτῇ συμφερόντων καὶ διδαχθεῖσα διότι δεῖ τοὺς μὲν τοῖς αὐτῆς δόγμασιν συνηγοροῦντας αὔξειν, τοὺς δʼ ἀντιλέγοντας ταπεινοῦν, οὕτως καὶ τότε πρῶτον ἐπεβάλετο1 τοὺς μὲν κατὰ τὸ βέλτιστον ἱσταμένους ἐν τοῖς ἰδίοις πολιτεύμασιν ἐλαττοῦν, τοὺς δὲ καὶ δικαίως καὶ ἀδίκως προστρέχοντας αὐτῇ σωματοποιεῖν. ἐξ ὧν αὐτῇ συνέβη κατὰ βραχύ, τοῦ χρόνου προβαίνοντος, κολάκων μὲν εὐπορεῖν, φίλων δὲ σπανίζειν ἀληθινῶν.
The Senate, thinking that Callicrates was speaking in their own interest, and having been taught that they ought to advance those who advocated their own decrees and to humble those who opposed them, thus on that occasion also for the first time undertook to diminish those who stood for what was best in their own states, and, whether justly or unjustly, to give substance to those who ran to them for protection. From this it happened to them by degrees, as time went on, to have an abundance of flatterers, but a scarcity of true friends.
οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ τότε περὶ μὲν τῆς καθόδου τῶν φυγάδων οὐ μόνον τοῖς Ἀχαιοῖς ἔγραψε, παρακαλοῦσα συνεπισχύειν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῖς Αἰτωλοῖς καὶ τοῖς Ἠπειρώταις, σὺν δὲ τούτοις Ἀθηναίοις, Βοιωτοῖς, Ἀκαρνᾶσιν, πάντας ὡσανεὶ προσδιαμαρτυρομένη χάριν τοῦ συντρῖψαι τοὺς Ἀχαιούς.
Nevertheless, on that occasion, they wrote concerning the return of the exiles not only to the Achaeans, exhorting them to assist, but also to the Aetolians and Epirots, and along with these to the Athenians, Boeotians, and Acarnanians, as if calling all to witness against the Achaeans for the sake of crushing them.
περὶ δὲ τοῦ Καλλικράτους αὐτοῦ κατʼ ἰδίαν παρασιωπήσασα τοὺς συμπρεσβευτὰς κατέταξεν εἰς τὴν ἀπόκρισιν διότι δεῖ τοιούτους ὑπάρχειν ἐν τοῖς πολιτεύμασιν ἄνδρας οἷός ἐστι Καλλικράτης.
As to Callicrates himself, while saying nothing privately to his fellow-ambassadors, they inserted in their reply that there ought to be such men in the states as Callicrates.
ὁ δὲ προειρημένος ἔχων τὰς ἀποκρίσεις ταύτας παρῆν εἰς τὴν Ἑλλάδα περιχαρής, οὐκ εἰδὼς ὅτι μεγάλων κακῶν ἀρχηγὸς γέγονε πᾶσι μὲν τοῖς Ἕλλησι, μάλιστα δὲ τοῖς Ἀχαιοῖς.
The aforesaid man, possessing these replies, arrived in Greece overjoyed, not knowing that he had become the author of great evils to all the Greeks, and most of all to the Achaeans.
ἔτι γὰρ τούτοις ἐξῆν καὶ κατʼ ἐκείνους τοὺς χρόνους κατὰ ποσὸν ἰσολογίαν ἔχειν πρὸς Ῥωμαίους διὰ τὸ τετηρηκέναι τὴν πίστιν ἐν τοῖς ἐπιφανεστάτοις καιροῖς, ἐξ οὗ τὰ Ῥωμαίων εἵλοντο, λέγω δὲ τοῖς κατὰ Φίλιππον καὶ Ἀντίοχον, οὕτω δὲ τοῦ τῶν Ἀχαιῶν ἔθνους ηὐξημένου καὶ προκοπὴν εἰληφότος κατὰ τὸ βέλτιστον ἀφʼ ὧν ἡμεῖς ἱστοροῦμεν χρόνων, αὕτη πάλιν ἀρχὴ τῆς ἐπὶ τὸ χεῖρον ἐγένετο μεταβολῆς, τὸ Καλλικράτους θράσος2 Ῥωμαῖοι ὄντες ἄνθρωποι καὶ ψυχῇ χρώμενοι λαμπρᾷ καὶ προαιρέσει καλῇ πάντας μὲν ἐλεοῦσι τοὺς ἐπταικότας καὶ πᾶσι πειρῶνται χαρίζεσθαι τοῖς καταφεύγουσιν ὡς αὐτούς·
For even at that time it was still possible for them to maintain to some extent an equal right of speech with the Romans, because they had kept their faith in the most critical times since they had chosen the Roman side—I mean during the wars with Philip and Antiochus. But though the Achaean nation had thus increased and made progress towards the best state from the times of which we write, this again became the beginning of a change for the worse—namely, the audacity of Callicrates. The Romans, being human and possessing a noble spirit and a good purpose, pity all who have stumbled, and endeavor to gratify all who flee to them for refuge;
ὅταν μέντοι γέ τις ὑπέμνησε τῶν δικαίων, τετηρηκὼς τὴν πίστιν, ἀνατρέχουσι καὶ διορθοῦνται σφᾶς αὐτοὺς κατὰ δύναμιν ἐν τοῖς πλείστοις.
but when anyone reminds them of what is just, having kept his faith, they relent and, in most cases, correct themselves as far as they are able.
ὁ δὲ Καλλικράτης πρεσβεύσας κατὰ τοὺς ἐνεστῶτας καιροὺς εἰς τὴν Ῥώμην χάριν τοῦ λέγειν τὰ δίκαια περὶ τῶν Ἀχαιῶν, χρησάμενος κατὰ τοὐναντίον τοῖς πράγμασιν καὶ συνεπισπασάμενος τὰ κατὰ Μεσσηνίους, ὑπὲρ ὧν οὐδʼ ἐνεκάλουν Ῥωμαῖοι, παρῆν εἰς Ἀχαΐαν προσανατεινόμενος τὸν ἀπὸ Ῥωμαίων φόβον·
But Callicrates, having gone on an embassy to Rome in those present times for the purpose of speaking what was just on behalf of the Achaeans, acted in the opposite way with the affairs, and dragged in the case of the Messenians, about whom the Romans were not even making any accusation, and returned to Achaea, threatening them with the fear of the Romans;
καὶ διὰ τὴν ἀποπρεσβείαν καταπληξάμενος καὶ συντρίψας τοὺς ὄχλους διὰ τὸ μηδὲν εἰδέναι τῶν ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ κατʼ ἀλήθειαν εἰρημένων ἐν τῇ συγκλήτῳ τοὺς πολλούς, πρῶτον μὲν ᾑρέθη στρατηγός, πρὸς τοῖς ἄλλοις κακοῖς καὶ δωροδοκηθείς, ἑξῆς δὲ τούτοις παραλαβὼν τὴν ἀρχὴν κατῆγε τοὺς ἐκ τῆς Λακεδαίμονος καὶ τοὺς ἐκ τῆς Μεσσήνης φυγάδας. —
and having terrified and crushed the multitudes by means of his harmful embassy, because the majority knew nothing of what had actually been said by him in the Senate, he was first elected general, having also taken bribes in addition to his other evils; and next, having taken over the government, he restored the exiles from Lacedaemon and those from Messene. —
- 24.10.4ἐπεβάλετο
The verb ἐπεβάλετο (attempted, undertook) governs two complementary infinitives: ἐλαττοῦν (to weaken) immediately following and σωματοποιεῖν (to strengthen) in §24.10.5.
- 24.10.10τὸ Καλλικράτους θράσος
Syntactically this is an anacoluthon, standing either in apposition to the preceding demonstrative αὕτη (this) or acting as the logical subject of the clause. It is placed in the nominative to emphasize 'the audacity of Callicrates' as the ultimate cause of the decline.