- 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-grc2:3.47.1-3.47.9
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-11
Hannibal's march inland after crossing the Rhone and the geography of the surrounding area are described, followed by a criticism of historians who write unrealistic, contradictory, and supernatural accounts of the Alpine crossing.
περαιωθέντων δὲ τῶν θηρίων, ἀναλαβὼν Ἀννίβας τοὺς ἐλέφαντας καὶ τοὺς ἱππεῖς προῆγε τούτοις ἀπουραγῶν1 παρὰ τὸν ποταμὸν ἀπὸ θαλάττης ὡς ἐπὶ τὴν ἕω, ποιούμενος τὴν πορείαν ὡς εἰς τὴν μεσόγαιον τῆς Εὐρώπης.
When the beasts had been ferried across, Hannibal, having collected the elephants and the cavalry, marched forward with them as his rear-guard along the river, away from the sea toward the east, making his way as if into the interior of Europe.
ὁ δὲ Ῥοδανὸς ἔχει τὰς μὲν πηγὰς ὑπὲρ τὸν Ἀδριατικὸν μυχὸν πρὸς τὴν ἑσπέραν νευούσας, ἐν τοῖς ἀποκλίνουσι μέρεσι τῶν Ἄλπεων ὡς πρὸς τὰς ἄρκτους, ῥεῖ δὲ πρὸς [τὰς] δύσεις χειμερινάς, ἐκβάλλει δʼ εἰς τὸ Σαρδῷον πέλαγος.
The Rhone has its sources above the head of the Adriatic, sloping toward the west in those parts of the Alps which incline toward the north; and it flows toward the winter sunset, and discharges itself into the Sardinian Sea.
φέρεται δʼ ἐπὶ πολὺ διʼ αὐλῶνος, οὗ πρὸς μὲν τὰς ἄρκτους Ἄρδυες Κελτοὶ κατοικοῦσι, τὴν δʼ ἀπὸ μεσημβρίας αὐτοῦ πλευρὰν ὁρίζουσι πᾶσαν αἱ πρὸς ἄρκτον κεκλιμέναι τῶν Ἄλπεων παρώρειαι. τὰ δὲ πεδία2 τὰ περὶ τὸν Πάδον, ὑπὲρ ὧν ἡμῖν εἴρηται διὰ πλειόνων, ἀπὸ τοῦ κατὰ τὸν Ῥοδανὸν αὐλῶνος διαζευγνύουσιν αἱ τῶν προειρημένων ὀρῶν ἀκρώρειαι, λαμβάνουσαι τὴν ἀρχὴν ἀπὸ Μασσαλίας ἕως ἐπὶ τὸν τοῦ παντὸς Ἀδρίου μυχόν·
It flows for a long distance through a valley, on the north of which live the Ardues Celts, while its entire southern side is bounded by the northern slopes of the Alps. The plains around the Po, of which we have spoken at greater length, are separated from the valley along the Rhone by the ridges of the aforementioned mountains, which take their beginning from Massalia and extend to the head of the entire Adriatic.
ἃς τόθʼ ὑπεράρας Ἀννίβας ἀπὸ τῶν κατὰ τὸν Ῥοδανὸν τόπων ἐνέβαλεν εἰς Ἰταλίαν.
It was these ridges that Hannibal, starting from the regions along the Rhone, crossed at that time to invade Italy.
ἔνιοι δὲ τῶν γεγραφότων περὶ τῆς ὑπερβολῆς ταύτης, βουλόμενοι τοὺς ἀναγινώσκοντας ἐκπλήττειν τῇ περὶ τῶν προειρημένων τόπων παραδοξολογίᾳ, λανθάνουσιν ἐμπίπτοντες εἰς δύο τὰ πάσης ἱστορίας ἀλλοτριώτατα· καὶ γὰρ ψευδολογεῖν καὶ μαχόμενα γράφειν αὑτοῖς ἀναγκάζονται.
Now some of those who have written about this crossing, wishing to strike readers with astonishment by their marvelous accounts of the aforementioned places, unconsciously fall into two errors most alien to all history; for they are forced both to tell falsehoods and to write things that contradict themselves.
ἅμα μὲν γὰρ τὸν Ἀννίβαν ἀμίμητόν τινα παρεισάγοντες στρατηγὸν καὶ τόλμῃ καὶ προνοίᾳ τοῦτον ὁμολογουμένως ἀποδεικνύουσιν ἡμῖν ἀλογιστότατον, ἅμα δὲ καταστροφὴν οὐ δυνάμενοι λαμβάνειν οὐδʼ ἔξοδον τοῦ ψεύδους θεοὺς καὶ θεῶν παῖδας εἰς πραγματικὴν ἱστορίαν παρεισάγουσιν.
For while, on the one hand, they introduce Hannibal as a general incomparable both in daring and foresight, they actually show him to us, by common consent, as most thoughtless; and, on the other hand, being unable to find any denouement or exit for their falsehood, they introduce gods and children of gods into real history.
ὑποθέμενοι γὰρ τὰς ἐρυμνότητας καὶ τραχύτητας τῶν Ἀλπεινῶν ὀρῶν τοιαύτας ὥστε μὴ οἷον ἵππους καὶ στρατόπεδα, σὺν δὲ τούτοις ἐλέφαντας, ἀλλὰ μηδὲ πεζοὺς εὐζώνους εὐχερῶς ἂν διελθεῖν, ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τὴν ἔρημον τοιαύτην τινὰ περὶ τοὺς τόπους ὑπογράψαντες ἡμῖν ὥστʼ, εἰ μὴ θεὸς ἤ τις ἥρως ἀπαντήσας τοῖς περὶ τὸν Ἀννίβαν ὑπέδειξε τὰς ὁδούς, ἐξαπορήσαντας ἂν καταφθαρῆναι3 πάντας, ὁμολογουμένως ἐκ τούτων εἰς ἑκάτερον τῶν προειρημένων
For having assumed the steepness and ruggedness of the Alpine mountains to be such that not only horses and armies, and with them elephants, but not even active foot-soldiers could easily pass through, and having likewise depicted the desolation of the regions for us in such a way that, if some god or hero had not met Hannibal’s men and pointed out the ways, they would have been utterly at a loss and perished, they thus, by common consent, fall into each of the aforementioned...
- 3.47.1τούτοις ἀπουραγῶν
The dative τούτοις accompanying the participle ἀπουραγῶν ("acting as rear-guard") denotes the force constituting the rear-guard (the preceding elephants and cavalry). It is interpreted as "using these as a rear-guard" or "with these protecting his rear."
- 3.47.3τὰ δὲ πεδία
An inversion of word order. The phrase τὰ δὲ πεδία τὰ περὶ τὸν Πάδον (neuter plural) at the beginning of the sentence might at first look like the subject, but it is actually the accusative object of the transitive verb διαζευγνύουσιν ("separate"). The grammatical subject is the feminine plural noun phrase placed after the verb, αἱ τῶν προειρημένων ὀρῶν ἀκρώρειαι ("the ridges of the aforementioned mountains").
- 3.47.9εἰ μὴ θεὸς ... ὑπέδειξε, ἐξαπορήσαντας ἂν καταφθαρῆναι
A conditional sentence of past contrary-to-fact, embedded in a result clause introduced by ὥστε and thus expressed as an accusative-and-infinitive construction. In direct speech, it would be "if a god had not pointed out..., they would have perished in utter helplessness" (εἰ μὴ ... ὑπέδειξε, ἐξαπορήσαντες ἂν κατεφθάρησαν), which here becomes the accusative subject/participle ἐξαπορήσαντας and the infinitive καταφθαρῆναι with ἄν.