- 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-grc2:38.16.1-38.16.12
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-12
The passage describes the extreme panic and chaotic reactions of the Greeks in various regions, particularly Patrae and Thebes, at the end of the Achaean War, as well as Pytheas's foolish plan to return home.
εἰς αὐτὸν τὸν ὄλεθρον εἰσέφερον. ἁπάντων δὲ τούτων ἐν ἑνὶ καιρῷ συμβαινόντων, ἡ τῶν κατὰ μέρος ἀεὶ προσπιπτόντων1 κατάπληξις ἀφῃρεῖτο τῶν ἀνθρώπων τὴν ὑπὲρ τῶν ὅλων ἐπίστασιν καὶ διάληψιν, διʼ ἧς ἔμελλον προνοεῖσθαι2 διότι πάντες εἰς πρόδηλον ὄλεθρον ἄγονται μετὰ τέκνων καὶ γυναικῶν.
contributed them to their very ruin. But while all these things were happening at the same time, the panic caused by the successive individual events deprived men of any attention to or understanding of the whole situation, by which they would have foreseen that they were all being led to a manifest ruin along with their children and wives.
λοιπόν, οἷον ὑπὸ χειμάρρου τινὸς λάβρου προωθούμενοι καὶ φερόμενοι μετὰ βίας, ἐπηκολούθουν τῇ τοῦ προεστῶτος ἀγνοίᾳ καὶ παρακοπῇ.
Consequently, as if pushed and violently swept away by some rapid torrent, they followed the ignorance and madness of their leader.
Ἠλεῖοι μὲν γὰρ καὶ Μεσσήνιοι κατὰ χώραν ἔμειναν, προσδοκῶντες τὸν ἀπὸ τοῦ στόλου κίνδυνον· οὓς οὐδὲν ἂν τῶν παρόντων ὤνησεν,3 εἴπερ ἐφάνη τὸ νέφος ἐκεῖνο κατὰ τὴν ἐξ ἀρχῆς πρόθεσιν.
For the Eleans and Messenians remained in their places, expecting the danger from the fleet; whom none of the present circumstances would have helped, if that cloud had appeared according to its original intention.
Πατρεῖς δὲ καὶ τὸ μετὰ τούτων συντελικὸν βραχεῖ χρόνῳ πρότερον ἐπταίκει κατὰ τὴν Φωκίδα, καὶ τὸ συμβαῖνον ἦν πολλῷ τῶν κατὰ Πελοπόννησον ἐλεεινότερον.
But the Patreans and the league allied with them had suffered a defeat a short time before in Phocis, and what was happening was much more pitiable than the state of affairs in the Peloponnese.
οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἐκ τοῦ ζῆν παραλόγως αὑτοὺς ἐξῆγον, οἱ δʼ ἔφευγον ἐκ τῶν πόλεων ἀνοδίαις, πρὸς οὐδὲν ὡρισμένον ποιούμενοι τὴν ἀναχώρησιν διὰ τὴν ἔκπληξιν τῶν γινομένων ἐν ταῖς πόλεσιν.
For some unreasonably made away with themselves, while others fled from the cities by trackless paths, making their retreat to no fixed destination because of their panic at what was happening in the cities.
καὶ οἱ μὲν ἦγον ἐκδώσοντες ἀλλήλους τοῖς πολεμίοις ὡς ἀλλοτρίους γεγονότας Ῥωμαίων, οἱ δʼ ἐμήνυον καὶ κατηγόρουν τῶν πέλας, οὐδενὸς ἐπιζητοῦντος κατὰ τὸ παρὸν τὴν τοιαύτην χρείαν· οἱ δὲ μεθʼ ἱκετηρίας ἀπήντων, ὁμολογοῦντες παρεσπονδηκέναι καὶ πυνθανόμενοι τί δεῖ πάσχειν, μηδέπω μηδενὸς ἐπιζητοῦντος λόγον ὑπὲρ τούτων.
And some led others away to hand them over to the enemy as having become hostile to the Romans, while others informed against and accused their neighbors, though no one at the present required such a service; and others went out to meet them with suppliant branches, confessing that they had broken the treaty and asking what they must suffer, though as yet no one demanded an explanation for these things.
πάντα δʼ ἦν πλήρη παρηλλαγμένης φαρμακείας4 τῶν ῥιπτούντων ἑαυτοὺς εἰς τὰ φρέατα καὶ κατὰ κρημνῶν, ὥστε κατὰ τὴν παροιμίαν κἂν ἐχθρὸν ἐλεῆσαι θεασάμενον τὴν τότε περιπέτειαν τῆς Ἑλλάδος.
And everything was full of the extraordinary madness of those who threw themselves into wells and down precipices, so that, according to the proverb, even an enemy would have pitied Greece, if he had witnessed her misfortune at that time.
τὸν μὲν γὰρ πρὸ τοῦ χρόνον ἐσφάλλοντο καὶ τοῖς ὅλοις ἔπταιον ἐνίοτε, ποτὲ μὲν ὑπὲρ πραγμάτων διαφερόμενοι, ποτὲ δὲ παρασπονδούμενοι διὰ τῶν μονάρχων·
For in the time before this they used to err and sometimes failed in their general fortunes, sometimes disputing about public affairs, sometimes being betrayed by their monarchs;
κατὰ δὲ τοὺς νῦν λεγομένους καιροὺς ἠτύχησαν ἀτυχίαν ὁμολογουμένην διὰ τὴν τῶν προεστώτων ἀβουλίαν καὶ διὰ τὴν ἰδίαν ἄγνοιαν.
but in the times now spoken of, they suffered a universally acknowledged misfortune because of the folly of their leaders and their own ignorance.
οἱ δὲ Θηβαῖοι ἐκλιπόντες πανδημεὶ τὴν πόλιν ἔρημον τελέως κατέλειπον· ἐν οἷς καὶ Πυθέας εἰς Πελοπόννησον ἀποχωρήσας μετὰ γυναικὸς καὶ τῶν τέκνων ἠλᾶτο κατὰ τῆς χώρας. — παράδοξος αὐτῷ ἐφάνη ἡ ἀπάντησις τῶν πολεμίων.
The Thebans abandoned their city in a body and left it completely deserted; among whom Pytheas also, having retreated to the Peloponnese with his wife and children, wandered about the countryside. — To him the reception by the enemy seemed unexpected.
ἀλλά μοι δοκεῖ κατὰ τὴν παροιμίαν κενὰ κενοὶ λογίζονται. λοιπὸν εἰκότως τοῖς τοιούτοις τὰ πρόδηλα παράδοξα φαίνεται. — καὶ ἐβουλεύετο περὶ τῆς εἰς οἶκον ἀνακομιδῆς, ὅμοιον ποιῶν ὡς εἴ τις ἄπειρος ὑπάρχων τοῦ νεῖν καὶ μέλλων αὑτὸν ῥίπτειν εἰς τὸ πέλαγος περὶ μὲν τοῦ ῥῖψαι μὴ βουλεύοιτο, ῥίψας δὲ διανοοῖτο περὶ τοῦ πῶς ἂν ἐκνήξαιτο πρὸς τὴν γῆν. —
But to me it seems that, according to the proverb, ‘empty men plan empty things.’ Consequently, it is natural that to such men even what is obvious seems unexpected. — And he began to deliberate about returning home, acting just like someone who, being unable to swim and about to throw himself into the sea, should not deliberate about throwing himself in, but, having thrown himself in, should then think about how he might swim back to the land. —
- 38.16.1τῶν κατὰ μέρος ἀεὶ προσπιπτόντων
A substantivized neuter plural present participle meaning "successive individual events." It functions as a subject/causal genitive modifying κατάπληξις.
- 38.16.1ἔμελλον προνοεῖσθαι
Expresses an unrealized past possibility ("they would have foreseen" or "were bound to foresee"). The antecedent of the relative pronoun ἧς is the preceding "attention to and understanding of the whole situation."
- 38.16.3οὓς οὐδὲν ἂν τῶν παρόντων ὤνησεν
A past counterfactual conditional sentence formed by the indicative past with ἄν (ὤνησεν) and the protasis (εἴπερ ἐφάνη...). It translates as "would have benefited them in no way, if ... had appeared."
- 38.16.7παρηλλαγμένης φαρμακείας
The noun φαρμακεία, which originally means "use of drugs," is used here metaphorically to mean "mental derangement" or "madness," modified by the perfect passive participle παρηλλαγμένη ("unusual" or "extraordinary").