- 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-grc2:28.10.1-28.10.2
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-11
Triggered by Perseus's blaming of Hippias after the Roman invasion of Macedonia, the author reflects on the ease of criticizing others versus the supreme difficulty of managing one's own affairs.
ὅτι ὁ Περσεὺς ἐπταικὼς τοῖς ὅλοις1 ἐπὶ τῷ εἰσελθεῖν Ῥωμαίους2 εἰς Μακεδονίαν τῷ Ἱππίᾳ ἐπετίμα.
Perseus, having suffered a decisive setback because the Romans had entered Macedonia, began to blame Hippias.
ἀλλά μοι δοκεῖ τὸ μὲν ἐπιτιμῆσαι τοῖς ἄλλοις εἶναι ῥᾴδιον καὶ συνιδεῖν τὰς τῶν πέλας ἁμαρτίας, τὸ δʼ αὐτὸν πράττειν3 τὰ δυνατὰ καὶ γνῶναι τὰ καθʼ αὑτὸν πάντων δυσχερέστατον. ὃ καὶ περὶ τὸν Περσέα συνέβη γενέσθαι. —
But it seems to me that while it is easy to blame others and to see the errors of one’s neighbors, to do what is in one’s own power and to know one’s own affairs is the most difficult of all things. And this is precisely what happened in the case of Perseus. —
- 28.10.1ἐπταικὼς τοῖς ὅλοις
The participle ἐπταικώς (perfect active of πταίω, 'to stumble' or 'fail') is modified by τοῖς ὅλοις (dative neuter plural used adverbially to mean 'in the whole' or 'entirely'), meaning 'having failed utterly' or 'having suffered a decisive setback'.
- 28.10.1ἐπὶ τῷ εἰσελθεῖν Ῥωμαίους
The preposition ἐπί followed by the dative articular infinitive τῷ εἰσελθεῖν expresses the cause, with the accusative Ῥωμαίους acting as the subject accusative of the infinitive.
- 28.10.2τὸ μὲν ἐπιτιμῆσαι ... τὸ δʼ αὐτὸν πράττειν
Using the contrasting particles μέν and δέ, two articular infinitive clauses (one with the aorist ἐπιτιμῆσαι, the other with the present πράττειν) are contrasted. In the latter clause, the accusative αὐτόν serves as the subject of the infinitive.