- 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-grc2:3.6.1-3.6.14
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-11
Polybius clarifies the conceptual distinctions between the "cause," "pretext," and "beginning" of a war, illustrating them with specific examples from the war against the Persians.
ἔνιοι δὲ τῶν συγγεγραφότων τὰς κατʼ Ἀννίβαν πράξεις βουλόμενοι τὰς αἰτίας ἡμῖν ὑποδεικνύναι, διʼ ἃς Ῥωμαίοις καὶ Καρχηδονίοις ὁ προειρημένος ἐνέστη πόλεμος, πρώτην μὲν ἀποφαίνουσι τὴν Ζακάνθης πολιορκίαν ὑπὸ Καρχηδονίων, δευτέραν δὲ τὴν διάβασιν αὐτῶν παρὰ τὰς συνθήκας τοῦ προσαγορευομένου παρὰ τοῖς ἐγχωρίοις Ἴβηρος ποταμοῦ·
Some of those who have written the history of Hannibal’s achievements, wishing to show us the causes owing to which the aforementioned war arose between the Romans and Carthaginians, declare the first cause to be the siege of Saguntum by the Carthaginians, and the second, their passage, contrary to treaties, of the river called Iberus by the inhabitants of the country.
ἐγὼ δὲ ταύτας ἀρχὰς μὲν εἶναι τοῦ πολέμου φήσαιμʼ ἄν, αἰτίας γε μὴν οὐδαμῶς ἂν συγχωρήσαιμι. πολλοῦ γε δεῖν,1 εἰ μὴ καὶ τὴν Ἀλεξάνδρου διάβασιν εἰς τὴν Ἀσίαν αἰτίαν εἶναί τις φήσει τοῦ πρὸς τοὺς Πέρσας πολέμου καὶ τὸν Ἀντιόχου κατάπλουν εἰς Δημητριάδα τοῦ πρὸς Ῥωμαίους· ὧν οὔτʼ εἰκὸς οὔτʼ ἀληθές ἐστιν οὐδέτερον.
But I would say that these were the beginnings of the war, but I would by no means grant that they were the causes; far from it, unless one is also to say that the passage of Alexander into Asia was the cause of the war against the Persians, and the landing of Antiochus at Demetrias was the cause of the war against the Romans. But neither of these is either probable or true.
τίς γὰρ ἂν νομίσειε ταύτας αἰτίας ὑπάρχειν, ὧν πολλὰ μὲν Ἀλέξανδρος πρότερον, οὐκ ὀλίγα δὲ Φίλιππος ἔτι ζῶν ἐνήργησε καὶ παρεσκευάσατο πρὸς τὸν κατὰ τῶν Περσῶν πόλεμον, ὁμοίως δὲ πάλιν Αἰτωλοὶ πρὸ τῆς Ἀντιόχου παρουσίας πρὸς τὸν κατὰ Ῥωμαίων;
For who would consider these to be causes, when Alexander had previously performed many things, and Philip, while still alive, had carried out no small amount of activity and preparation for the war against the Persians, and likewise again the Aetolians had prepared for the war against the Romans before the arrival of Antiochus?
ἀλλʼ ἔστιν ἀνθρώπων2 τὰ τοιαῦτα μὴ διειληφότων ἀρχὴ τί διαφέρει καὶ πόσον διέστηκεν αἰτίας καὶ προφάσεως, καὶ διότι τὰ μέν ἐστι πρῶτα τῶν ἁπάντων, ἡ δʼ ἀρχὴ τελευταῖον τῶν εἰρημένων.
But such a view belongs to men who have not distinguished how a beginning differs from a cause and a pretext, and how much they are separated, and that the causes are the very first of all, while the beginning is the last of the things mentioned.
ἐγὼ δὲ παντὸς ἀρχὰς μὲν εἶναί φημι τὰς πρώτας ἐπιβολὰς καὶ πράξεις τῶν ἤδη κεκριμένων, αἰτίας δὲ τὰς προκαθηγουμένας τῶν κρίσεων καὶ διαλήψεων· λέγω δʼ ἐπινοίας καὶ διαθέσεις καὶ τοὺς περὶ ταῦτα συλλογισμοὺς καὶ διʼ ὧν· ἐπὶ τὸ κρῖναί τι καὶ προθέσθαι παραγινόμεθα.
For I say that the beginnings of everything are the first undertakings and actions of what has already been decided, but the causes are what precede the decisions and judgements; and by these I mean intentions, dispositions, and calculations about these, and those things through which we come to judge and propose something.
δῆλον δʼ οἷον τὸ προειρημένον ἐκ τῶν ἐπιφερομένων.
What is meant by this is clear from what follows.
τίνες γὰρ ἀληθῶς ἦσαν αἰτίαι, καὶ πόθεν φῦναι συνέβη τὸν πρὸς τοὺς Πέρσας πόλεμον, εὐμαρὲς καὶ τῷ τυχόντι συνιδεῖν.
For what the true causes were, and from what origin the war against the Persians happened to arise, is easy for anyone to see.
ἦν δὲ πρώτη μὲν ἡ τῶν μετὰ Ξενοφῶντος Ἑλλήνων ἐκ τῶν ἄνω σατραπειῶν ἐπάνοδος, ἐν ᾗ πᾶσαν τὴν Ἀσίαν διαπορευομένων αὐτῶν πολεμίαν ὑπάρχουσαν οὐδεὶς ἐτόλμα μένειν κατὰ πρόσωπον τῶν βαρβάρων·
The first was the return of the Greeks with Xenophon from the upper satrapies, in which, while they marched through the whole of Asia, which was hostile, no one of the barbarians dared to face them.
δευτέρα δʼ ἡ τοῦ Λακεδαιμονίων βασιλέως Ἀγησιλάου διάβασις εἰς τὴν Ἀσίαν, ἐν ᾗ ʼκεῖνος οὐδὲν ἀξιόχρεων οὐδʼ ἀντίπαλον εὑρὼν ταῖς σφετέραις ἐπιβολαῖς ἄπρακτος ἠναγκάσθη μεταξὺ διὰ τὰς περὶ τὴν Ἑλλάδα ταραχὰς ἐπανελθεῖν.
The second was the crossing of Agesilaus, king of the Lacedaemonians, into Asia, in which he, finding nothing worthy or matchable for his undertakings, was forced to return in the middle of his course, without having accomplished anything, because of the disturbances in Greece.
ἐξ ὧν Φίλιππος κατανοήσας καὶ συλλογισάμενος τὴν Περσῶν ἀνανδρίαν καὶ ῥᾳθυμίαν καὶ τὴν αὑτοῦ καὶ Μακεδόνων εὐεξίαν ἐν τοῖς πολεμικοῖς, ἔτι δὲ καὶ τὸ μέγεθος καὶ τὸ κάλλος τῶν ἐσομένων ἄθλων ἐκ τοῦ πολέμου πρὸ ὀφθαλμῶν θέμενος, ἅμα τῷ περιποιήσασθαι τὴν ἐκ τῶν Ἑλλήνων εὔνοιαν ὁμολογουμένην, εὐθέως προφάσει χρώμενος ὅτι σπεύδει μετελθεῖν τὴν Περσῶν παρανομίαν εἰς τοὺς Ἕλληνας, ὁρμὴν ἔσχε καὶ προέθετο πολεμεῖν καὶ πάντα πρὸς τοῦτο τὸ μέρος ἡτοίμαζε.
From these events Philip, having perceived and calculated the lack of courage and the laziness of the Persians and his own and the Macedonians’ excellence in military matters, and having placed before his eyes the size and beauty of the prizes that would result from the war, as soon as he had secured the agreed goodwill of the Greeks, immediately using the pretext that he was eager to avenge the lawlessness of the Persians against the Greeks, felt the impulse and proposed to make war, and prepared everything for this purpose.
διόπερ αἰτίας μὲν τὰς πρώτας ῥηθείσας ἡγητέον τοῦ πρὸς τοὺς Πέρσας πολέμου, πρόφασιν δὲ τὴν δευτέραν, ἀρχὴν δὲ τὴν3
Therefore, we must consider the first things mentioned as the causes of the war against the Persians, the second as the pretext, and the beginning as...
- 3.6.3πολλοῦ γε δεῖν
An idiomatic expression using the absolute infinitive, functioning as an adverbial phrase meaning 'far from it' or 'by no means' to strongly negate the previous statement.
- 3.6.6ἔστιν ἀνθρώπων
The construction of the impersonal ἔστι followed by the genitive of characteristic (ἀνθρώπων), meaning 'it is characteristic of people who...' or 'it belongs to those who...'
- 3.6.14ἀρχὴν δὲ τὴν
This sentence breaks off in the middle, likely due to a lacuna in the manuscript tradition. The feminine accusative article τὴν was expected to introduce the noun phrase representing the 'beginning' of the war against the Persians, such as 'Alexander's crossing' (τὴν Ἀλεξάνδρου διάβασιν in 3.6.4).