- 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-grc2:38.3.1-38.3.13
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-12
Relates the recovery of the Thebans after Alexander's destruction and the reversal brought by external sympathy. It then defines the strict distinction between being "unfortunate" (ἀκληρεῖν) and "suffering misfortune" (ἀτυχεῖν) due to one's own folly, analyzing the decline of the Greek states during this period.
Ἀλεξάνδρου.1 τοιγαροῦν βραχεῖ χρόνῳ τυχόντες ἐπικουρίας τινὸς αὖθις ᾤκουν τὴν πατρίδα μετʼ ἀσφαλείας.
[of Alexander.] Therefore, having obtained some assistance in a short time, they dwelt in their fatherland again with safety.
ὁ γὰρ παρὰ τῶν ἐκτὸς ἔλεος οὐ μικρὸν ἐπίχειρόν ἐστι τοῖς ἀδίκως ἀκληροῦσιν, εἴ γε πολλάκις ἰδεῖν ἔστιν ἅμα ταῖς τῶν πολλῶν ὁρμαῖς2 καὶ τὴν τύχην μεταβαλλομένην καὶ τοὺς κρατοῦντας αὐτοὺς μεταμελομένους καὶ διορθουμένους τὰς τῶν παραλόγως ἠτυχηκότων περιπετείας.
For pity from outsiders is no small reward for those who are unjustly unfortunate, since indeed one can often see fortune changing simultaneously with the impulses of the multitude, and the rulers themselves repenting and correcting the reverses of those who have suffered misfortune contrary to expectation.
πάλιν ἐπείθοντο κατά τινας καιροὺς Χαλκιδεῖς καὶ Κορίνθιοι καί τινες ἕτεραι πόλεις διὰ τὴν τῶν τόπων εὐφυΐαν τοῖς ἐν Μακεδονίᾳ βασιλεῦσι καὶ φρουρὰς εἶχον·
Again, at certain times, the Chalcidians and Corinthians and some other cities were subject to the kings in Macedonia because of the favorable nature of their locations, and they had garrisons;
ἀλλὰ τοὺς μὲν δουλεύοντας πάντες ἐσπούδαζον κατὰ δύναμιν ἐλευθεροῦν, τοὺς δὲ καταδουλωσαμένους ἐμίσουν καὶ πολεμίους ἡγοῦντο διὰ τέλους.
but everyone was eager to liberate those who were enslaved according to their power, and they hated those who had enslaved them and regarded them as enemies to the end.
καθόλου δὲ κατὰ πόλεις ἔπταιον καὶ κατὰ πόλιν ἐσφάλλοντο τὸν πρὸ τοῦ χρόνον ὡς ἐπίπαν, οἱ μὲν ὑπὲρ ἡγεμονίας καὶ πραγμάτων ἀμφισβητοῦντες, οἱ δʼ ὑπὸ μονάρχων καὶ βασιλέων παρασπονδούμενοι·
In general, in the preceding time, they stumbled by cities and failed as a rule city by city, some disputing for hegemony and public affairs, others being betrayed in treaties by monarchs and kings;
διὸ καὶ σπανίους ἂν εὕροις οἷς ὄνειδος ἠκολούθει τῶν ἀκληρούντων ἢ καὶ τὸ τῆς ἀτυχίας ὄνομα διέμενεν·
therefore, you would find few among those who were unfortunate upon whom reproach followed, or for whom the name of misfortune remained;
ἀκληρεῖν μὲν γὰρ ἅπαντας ἡγητέον καὶ κοινῇ καὶ κατʼ ἰδίαν τοὺς παραλόγοις συμφοραῖς περιπίπτοντας, ἀτυχεῖν δὲ3 μόνους τούτους οἷς διὰ τὴν ἰδίαν ἀβουλίαν ὄνειδος αἱ πράξεις ἐπιφέρουσι.
for we must consider all those who fall into unexpected calamities, both publicly and privately, as being unfortunate, but as suffering misfortune only those whose actions bring reproach upon them through their own folly.
κατὰ δὲ τοὺς ὑποκειμένους καιροὺς ἠτύχησαν ἅμα Πελοποννήσιοι, Βοιωτοί, Φωκεῖς, εῖς, Λοκροί, τινὲς τῶν τὸν Ἰόνιον κατοικούντων κόλπον, μετὰ δὲ τούτους ἔτι Μακεδόνες·
But in the times under consideration, the Peloponnesians, Boeotians, Phocians, [...]ians, Locrians, some of those dwelling along the Ionian gulf, and after these, furthermore, the Macedonians suffered misfortune at the same time;
μὴ μόνον κατὰ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν πρότερον, ἀλλὰ καὶ κατὰ ἐπίπαν οὐκ ἠκλήρησαν, ἀλλʼ ἠτύχησαν ἀτυχίαν αἰσχρὰν ὡς ἔνι μάλιστα καὶ ἐπονείδιστον·
[...] not only in the number [...] of those who went before, but also in [...] as a whole, they did not merely suffer ill fortune, but they suffered a misfortune as shameful and reproachful as possible;
ἅμα μὲν γὰρ ἀπιστίαν, ἅμα δʼ ἀνανδρίαν ἔδειξαν, καὶ πράξεις αὐτοῖς ἐπήνεγκαν διὰ τὴν ἀτ.
for they showed at once faithlessness and cowardice, and their actions brought upon them through their [...]
ἅμα. τοιγαροῦν στερηθέντες πάντων τῶν καλῶν οἱ μὲν ὑπὸ στέ, ἔνιοι δὲ καὶ δ ντες εἰς τὰς πόλεις τότε παρεδέξαντο ῥάβδους καὶ πελέκεις ἐθελο·
[...] at the same time. Therefore, deprived of all honorable things, some under [...], and others also [...], they then voluntarily welcomed the rods and axes into their cities;
ἐν μεγάλῳ γὰρ φόβῳ διὰ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῶν ἰδίων ἁμαρτημάτων ἦσαν, εἰ χρ ὴ λέγειν ἰδίων·4 ἐγὼ γὰρ ἠγνοηκέναι μὲν φαίην ἂν τοὺς πολλοὺς καὶ παραπεπαικέναι τοῦ καθήκοντος, ἡμαρτηκέναι δὲ τοὺς αἰτίους γεγονότας τῆς ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον ἀγνοίας.
for they were in great fear because of the excess of their own transgressions, if it is [...] to say “their own”; for I would say that the majority were ignorant and had strayed from duty, but that those who were the causes of such great ignorance had transgressed.
- 38.3.1Ἀλεξάνδρου
A genitive continuing from the end of the previous chunk ("no one justified this action", διεδικαίου δὲ τὴν πρᾶξιν ταύτην οὐδεῖς). It functions as the object of the verb διεδικαίου, meaning "[the action] of Alexander."
- 38.3.2ἅμα ταῖς τῶν πολλῶν ὁρμαῖς
The preposition ἅμα takes the dative (ταῖς... ὁρμαῖς), forming an adverbial phrase "simultaneously with the impulses of the multitude." The subsequent accusative and participle constructions starting with καὶ τὴν τύχην μεταβαλλομένην function as the objects of the infinitive ἰδεῖν, which is the subject of the impersonal verb ἔστιν.
- 38.3.7ἀκληρεῖν μὲν γὰρ... ἀτυχεῖν δὲ
The author strictly distinguishes between "to be unfortunate" (ἀκληρεῖν) and "to suffer misfortune" (ἀτυχεῖν). The former refers to unexpected calamities beyond human control (external ill fortune), while the latter refers to culpable failures or shameful mistakes caused by one's own folly (ἀβουλία).
- 38.3.13ὴ λέγειν ἰδίων
Combined with εἰ χρ[ή...] at the end of §38.3.12, it forms the conditional clause "εἰ χρὴ λέγειν ἰδίων" (if one ought to say 'their own'). Although divided across sections due to the fragmented nature of the manuscript, they grammatically constitute a single clause.