- 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-grc2:29.9.1-29.9.13
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-11
The author analyzes how the avarice of both Kings Eumenes and Perseus deprived them of judgment and led them to foolish actions, criticizing the ignorance caused by greed.
προστίθημι δʼ ἔτι παρʼ ἐμαυτοῦ τοσοῦτον, μὴ καὶ μωροποιεῖσθαι συμβαίνει τὴν φιλαργυρίαν.1
And I add this much of my own, that avarice actually makes men foolish.
τίς γὰρ οὐκ ἂν ἐπισημήναιτο τὴν ἄγνοιαν ἀμφοτέρων τῶν βασιλέων, Εὐμένους μέν, κατὰ τίνα λόγον ἤλπισε τηλικαύτης ἀλλοτριότητος ὑπαρχούσης πιστευθήσεσθαι καὶ προσλήψεσθαι τοσοῦτο πλῆθος χρημάτων, μηδεμίαν δυνάμενος ἱκανὴν πίστιν παρασχέσθαι τῷ Περσεῖ τῆς κομιδῆς τούτων,2 ἐὰν μὴ βεβαιοῖ τὰς ὑποσχέσεις;
For who would not remark on the ignorance of both kings: of Eumenes on the one hand, on what ground he hoped, when such hostility existed, to be trusted and to receive in addition so great a sum of money, though he was unable to provide any sufficient guarantee to Perseus for the recovery of these, if he should not fulfill his promises?
πῶς δὲ λαβὼν τοσοῦτο πλῆθος χρημάτων ὑπέλαβε λήσειν Ῥωμαίους;
And how, having received so great a sum of money, did he suppose he would escape the notice of the Romans?
εἰ γὰρ καὶ κατὰ τὸ παρόν, οὐκ ἂν ἔν γε τῷ μετὰ ταῦτα χρόνῳ διέλαθε.
For even if he had at the present moment, he certainly would not have escaped notice in the time thereafter.
λοιπὸν ἔδει πάντως ἀντὶ τῶν διδομένων χρημάτων ἀλλάξασθαι τὴν πρὸς Ῥωμαίους διαφοράν,3 διʼ ἣν ἔμελλε καὶ τῶν ληφθέντων χρημάτων ἅμα καὶ τῆς ἀρχῆς, σχεδὸν δὲ καὶ τοῦ βίου στερήσεσθαι, πολέμιος φανεὶς Ῥωμαίοις.
Consequently, it was absolutely necessary for him to exchange the money given to him for enmity with the Romans, on account of which he was bound to be deprived at once of the money received, and of his kingdom, and almost of his life also, by appearing as an enemy to the Romans.
εἰ γὰρ καὶ νῦν μηδὲν πράξας, ἐπινοήσας δὲ μόνον εἰς τοὺς μεγίστους ἦλθε κινδύνους, τί ποτε παθεῖν αὐτῷ προσῆκεν ἐπὶ τέλος ἀχθείσης τῆς προειρημένης πράξεως;
For if even now, having done nothing but only having conceived the design, he fell into the greatest dangers, what would he have deserved to suffer if the aforesaid action had been brought to completion?
τοῦ δὲ Περσέως πάλιν τίς οὐκ ἂν θαυμάσειε πῶς ἄλλο τι συμφορώτερον ἢ προυργιαίτερον ἐνόμισε τοῦ δοῦναι τὰ χρήματα καὶ καταπιεῖν ἐᾶσαι τὸν Εὐμένη τὸ δέλεαρ;
On the other hand, who would not wonder at Perseus, how he thought anything else to be more advantageous or more urgent than giving the money and letting Eumenes swallow the bait?
εἰ μὲν γὰρ συνήργησέ τι τῶν κατὰ τὰς ἐπαγγελίας καὶ διέλυσε τὸν πόλεμον, εἰς καλὸν ἡ δόσις.
For if he had cooperated in any of the things promised and had ended the war, the payment would have been well spent.
εἰ δὲ ταύτης διεψεύσθη τῆς ἐλπίδος, εἴς γε τὴν πρὸς Ῥωμαίους ἔχθραν ὁμολογουμένως ἂν αὐτὸν ἐμβεβλήκει· τοῦ γὰρ εἰς τὸ μέσον ἐνεγκεῖν ταῦτα κύριος ὑπῆρχεν αὐτός.
But if he had been disappointed in this hope, he would admittedly have plunged him into enmity with the Romans; for he himself had the power to bring these matters into the open.
πόσου δὲ τοῦτʼ ἄξιον Περσεῖ καὶ κατορθοῦντι τῷ πολέμῳ καὶ πταίοντι, ῥᾴδιον συλλογίσασθαι·
How much this was worth to Perseus, both if he succeeded in the war and if he failed, is easy to calculate;
πάντων γὰρ τῶν συμβάντων κακῶν αἴτιον ἐνόμιζεν Εὐμένη γεγονέναι, ὃν οὐκ ἂν ἠδυνήθη κατʼ οὐδένα τρόπον ἀμύνασθαι βέλτιον ἢ πολέμιον ποιήσας Ῥωμαίοις.
for he considered Eumenes to have been the cause of all the evils that had happened, whom he could not have punished in any better way than by making him an enemy to the Romans.
τίς οὖν αἰτία τῆς οὕτως ἐκφανοῦς ἀλογιστίας; φιλαργυρία· τί γὰρ ἂν ἄλλο τις εἴπειεν; ὁ μὲν γὰρ χάριν τοῦ λαβεῖν τὰ μὴ καθήκοντα πάντα παρεώρα τἄλλα καὶ πάντʼ ἀνεδέχετο ποιήσειν, ὁ δὲ τοῦ μὴ δοῦναι πάντα παθεῖν καὶ πᾶν ὑπεριδεῖν ὑπέμενεν.
What, then, was the cause of such manifest folly? Avarice. For what else could one say? For the one, for the sake of receiving what was not proper, overlooked everything else and undertook to do everything; while the other, for the sake of not paying, submitted to suffer everything and to overlook everything.
ἀκολούθως δὲ τούτοις Περσεὺς καὶ τὰ πρὸς Γαλάτας καὶ τὰ πρὸς Γένθιον —
Accordingly, in a similar manner to these, Perseus also acted with regard to the Gauls and to Genthius—
- 29.9.1μὴ καὶ μωροποιεῖσθαι συμβαίνει τὴν φιλαργυρίαν
The conjunction μὴ, dependent on the verb προστίθημι ('I add'), introduces a clause with the indicative present συμβαίνει. In classical Greek, μὴ clauses of apprehension typically take the subjunctive; the use of the indicative here highlights an established fact ('that avarice actually makes men foolish'), reflecting the Hellenistic Greek (Koine) usage of Polybius.
- 29.9.2τῆς κομιδῆς τούτων
The genitive τούτων ('of these', referring to the money/talents) depending on the noun κομιδή ('recovery' or 'safeguarding') is an objective genitive. It indicates the recovery or securing of the funds, pointing to the lack of guarantees for Perseus to get his money back if Eumenes failed to perform.
- 29.9.5ἀλλάξασθαι τὴν πρὸς Ῥωμαίους διαφοράν
The direct object of the middle verb ἀλλάσσομαι ('to exchange/obtain in exchange') is 'enmity with the Romans' (διαφοράν) in the accusative, while the preceding genitive τῶν διδομένων χρημάτων expresses the price of exchange. Literally 'to exchange the given money for enmity with the Romans', emphasizing the ironic trade of receiving money at the cost of acquiring fatal hostility.