- 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-grc2:3.90.1-3.90.14
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-11
Fabius maintains his strategy of delay and guerrilla tactics, avoiding a decisive battle despite the dissatisfaction of his colleague Marcus. Hannibal marches from fertile Samnium to Falernus in the plains of Capua, hoping to induce the Roman allies to revolt.
καὶ χειρῶν πλῆθος. διόπερ κατὰ τοὺς ἑξῆς χρόνους ἀντιπαρῆγεν τοῖς πολεμίοις ἀεὶ καὶ τοὺς εὐκαίρους προκατελάμβανε τόπους κατὰ τὴν ἐμπειρίαν.
and abundance of men. Therefore during the succeeding period, he always marched parallel to the enemy, and, in accordance with his experience, occupied in advance the advantageous positions.
ἔχων δὲ κατὰ νώτου τὰς χορηγίας ἀφθόνους οὐδέποτε τοὺς στρατιώτας ἠφίει προνομεύειν οὐδὲ χωρίζεσθαι καθάπαξ ἐκ τοῦ χάρακος, ἅθρους δʼ ἀεὶ καὶ συνεστραμμένους τηρῶν ἐφήδρευε τοῖς τόποις καὶ καιροῖς.
And keeping abundant supplies at his back, he never allowed the soldiers to forage or to separate themselves at all from the camp, but always keeping them together and in close order, he lay in wait for opportunities of time and place.
καὶ πολλοὺς τῶν πολεμίων ἀποσπωμένους ἀπὸ τῆς ἰδίας παρεμβολῆς ἐπὶ τὰς προνομὰς διὰ τὸ καταφρονεῖν ὑποχειρίους ἐλάμβανε καὶ κατέφθειρε τῷ τοιούτῳ τρόπῳ.
And many of the enemy, who through contempt had strayed from their own camp for foraging, he fell upon and destroyed in this manner.
ταῦτα δʼ ἐποίει, βουλόμενος ἅμα μὲν ἀφʼ ὡρισμένου πλήθους ἐλαττοῦν ἀεὶ τοὺς ὑπεναντίους, ἅμα δὲ τὰς τῶν ἰδίων δυνάμεων ψυχὰς προηττημένας τοῖς ὅλοις διὰ τῶν κατὰ μέρος προτερημάτων κατὰ βραχὺ σωματοποιεῖν καὶ προσαναλαμβάνειν.1
He did this wishing, at one and the same time, to diminish continually the enemy’s numbers, which were limited, and to rebuild and restore by degrees, through these partial successes, the spirits of his own forces, which had been dispirited by the general defeats.
εἰς ὁλοσχερῆ δὲ κρίσιν ἐξ ὁμολόγου συγκαταβαίνειν οὐδαμῶς οἷός τʼ ἦν.
But to descend into a decisive battle by mutual agreement was in no way possible for him.
οὐ μὴν Μάρκῳ γε τῷ συνάρχοντι τούτων οὐδὲν ἤρεσκεν. σύμψηφον δὲ τοῖς ὄχλοις ποιῶν αὑτὸν τὸν μὲν Φάβιον κατελάλει πρὸς πάντας, ὡς ἀγεννῶς χρώμενον τοῖς πράγμασιν καὶ νωθρῶς, αὐτὸς δὲ πρόθυμος ἦν παραβάλλεσθαι καὶ διακινδυνεύειν.
This, however, was not at all pleasing to his colleague Marcus. Aligning himself with the crowd, he defamed Fabius to everyone as acting in a cowardly and sluggish manner in his conduct of affairs, while he himself was eager to run risks and hazard a battle.
οἱ δὲ Καρχηδόνιοι καταφθείραντες τοὺς προειρημένους τόπους ὑπερέβαλον τὸν Ἀπεννῖνον καὶ κατάραντες εἰς τὴν Σαυνῖτιν χώραν, οὖσαν εὐδαίμονα καὶ πολλῶν χρόνων ἀπολέμητον, ἐν τοιαύτῃ περιουσίᾳ τῶν ἐπιτηδείων ἦσαν ὥστε μήτε χρωμένους μήτε καταφθείροντας ἀνύειν δύνασθαι τὰς λείας.2 κατέδραμον δὲ καὶ τὴν Οὐενοαντανήν, Ῥωμαίων ἀποικίαν ὑπάρχουσαν· εἷλον δὲ καὶ πόλιν Οὐενουσίαν, ἀτείχιστον οὖσαν καὶ πολλῆς καὶ παντοδαπῆς ἀποσκευῆς γέμουσαν.
The Carthaginians, having laid waste the aforementioned regions, crossed the Apennines and descended into the territory of Samnium, which was fertile and had been free from war for many years; and they found themselves in such a superabundance of provisions that they were unable either to consume or destroy the booty. They also overran the territory of Venoanta, which was a Roman colony. They also captured the city of Venusia, which was unfortified and full of much baggage of every kind.
οἱ δὲ Ῥωμαῖοι κατόπιν μὲν εἵποντο συνεχῶς, μιᾶς καὶ δυεῖν ἡμερῶν ὁδὸν ἀπέχοντες, ἐγγίζειν γε μὴν καὶ συμπλέκεσθαι τοῖς πολεμίοις οὐχ οἷοί τʼ ἦσαν.
The Romans kept following close behind them, keeping a distance of one or two days’ march, but they were not able to draw near or engage with the enemy.
διόπερ Ἀννίβας ὁρῶν τὸν Φάβιον φυγομαχοῦντα μὲν προδήλως τοῖς δʼ ὅλοις οὐκ ἐκχωροῦντα τῶν ὑπαίθρων, ὥρμησε τολμηρῶς εἰς τὰ περὶ Καπύην πεδία, καὶ τούτων εἰς τὸν προσαγορευόμενον Φάλερνον τόπον, πεπεισμένος δυεῖν θάτερον, ἢ μάχεσθαι τοὺς πολεμίους ἀναγκάσειν ἢ πᾶσι δῆλον ποιήσειν ὅτι κρατεῖ τῶν ὅλων καὶ παραχωροῦσι Ῥωμαῖοι τῶν ὑπαίθρων αὐτοῖς.
Therefore Hannibal, seeing that Fabius was manifestly avoiding battle but yet not abandoning the open country altogether, set out boldly for the plains around Capua, and among these, for the place called Falernus, being convinced of one of two things, either that he would force the enemy to fight, or that he would make it clear to all that he was master of the whole situation and that the Romans were yielding the open country to them.
οὗ γενομένου καταπλαγείσας ἤλπιζε τὰς πόλεις ὁρμήσειν πρὸς τὴν ἀπὸ Ῥωμαίων ἀπόστασιν.
And if this happened, he hoped that the cities, being struck with terror, would hasten to revolt from the Romans.
ἕως γὰρ τότε δυσὶ μάχαις ἤδη λελειμμένων αὐτῶν3 οὐδεμία πόλις ἀπέστη τῶν κατὰ τὴν Ἰταλίαν πρὸς Καρχηδονίους, ἀλλὰ διετήρουν τὴν πίστιν, καίπερ ἔνιαι πάσχουσαι κακῶς.
For up to that time, although they had already been defeated in two battles, not a single city in Italy had revolted to the Carthaginians, but they maintained their allegiance, although some of them were suffering severely.
ἐξ ὧν καὶ παρασημήναιτʼ ἄν τις τὴν κατάπληξιν καὶ καταξίωσιν παρὰ τοῖς συμμάχοις τοῦ Ῥωμαίων πολιτεύματος.
From which facts also one might mark the terror and respect inspired among the allies by the Roman constitution.
- 3.90.4σωματοποιεῖν καὶ προσαναλαμβάνειν
With 'the spirits' (the mental state, ψυχάς) as the object of both infinitives. 'σωματοποιεῖν' literally means 'to embody or give substance/strength to', and 'προσαναλαμβάνειν' means 'to restore or encourage', describing the gradual rebuilding of the morale shattered by general defeats (τοῖς ὅλοις) through partial successes (τῶν κατὰ μέρος προτερημάτων).
- 3.90.7ὥστε μήτε χρωμένους μήτε καταφθείροντας ἀνύειν δύνασθαι τὰς λείας
A consecutive clause introduced by 'ὥστε'. 'ἀνύειν' means 'to dispatch, exhaust or dispose of', accompanied by the accusative participles 'χρωμένους' (consuming/using) and 'καταφθείροντας' (destroying), showing that the booty (τὰς λείας) was too abundant to be either consumed or destroyed. The participles agree in the accusative with the implied subject of the infinitive.
- 3.90.13λελειμμένων αὐτῶν
A genitive absolute construction using the perfect medio-passive participle of 'λείπω'. Here it means 'they (the Romans) having been defeated', carrying a concessive force ('although they had been defeated').