- 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-grc2:4.16.1-4.16.11
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-10
The Epirotes and King Philip admit the Messenians into their alliance but resolve to maintain peace with the habitually lawless Aetolians, while the Lacedaemonians secretly ally with Aetolia and Illyrian leaders begin a joint invasion of Achaea.
οἱ δʼ Ἠπειρῶται καὶ Φίλιππος ὁ βασιλεὺς ἀκούσαντες τῶν πρέσβεων τοὺς μὲν Μεσσηνίους εἰς τὴν συμμαχίαν προσέλαβον, ἐπὶ δὲ τοῖς ὑπὸ τῶν Αἰτωλῶν πεπραγμένοις παραυτίκα μὲν ἠγανάκτησαν, οὐ μὴν ἐπὶ πλεῖον ἐθαύμασαν, διὰ τὸ μηδὲν παράδοξον, τῶν εἰθισμένων δέ τι πεποιηκέναι τοὺς Αἰτωλούς.1
The Epirotes and King Philip, after hearing the envoys, admitted the Messenians into the alliance, and while they were immediately indignant at the actions of the Aetolians, they were not particularly surprised, because there was nothing unexpected about them, but rather that the Aetolians had done something characteristic of their usual habits.
διόπερ οὐδʼ ὠργίσθησαν ἐπὶ πλεῖον, ἀλλʼ ἐψηφίσαντο τὴν εἰρήνην ἄγειν πρὸς αὐτούς· οὕτως ἡ συνεχὴς ἀδικία συγγνώμης τυγχάνει μᾶλλον τῆς σπανίου καὶ παραδόξου πονηρίας.
For this reason, they did not even become further enraged, but voted to maintain peace with them; so it is that constant injustice meets with indulgence more than rare and unexpected wickedness.
Αἰτωλοὶ γοῦν τούτῳ τῷ τρόπῳ χρώμενοι, καὶ λῃστεύοντες συνεχῶς τὴν Ἑλλάδα, καὶ πολέμους ἀνεπαγγέλτους φέροντες πολλοῖς, οὐδʼ ἀπολογίας ἔτι κατηξίουν τοὺς ἐγκαλοῦντας,2 ἀλλὰ καὶ προσεχλεύαζον, εἴ τις αὐτοὺς εἰς δικαιοδοσίας προκαλοῖτο περὶ τῶν γεγονότων ἢ καὶ νὴ Δία τῶν μελλόντων.
At any rate, the Aetolians, practicing this method, constantly plundering Greece and bringing undeclared wars upon many, no longer even deigned to offer any defense to their accusers, but actually scoffed if anyone summoned them to legal arbitration concerning past events or indeed, by Zeus, future ones.
οἱ δὲ Λακεδαιμόνιοι, προσφάτως μὲν ἠλευθερωμένοι διʼ Ἀντιγόνου καὶ διὰ τῆς τῶν Ἀχαιῶν φιλοτιμίας, ὀφείλοντες δὲ Μακεδόσι καὶ Φιλίππῳ μηδὲν ὑπεναντίον πράττειν, διαπεμψάμενοι λάθρᾳ πρὸς τοὺς Αἰτωλοὺς φιλίαν διʼ ἀπορρήτων ἔθεντο καὶ συμμαχίαν.
The Lacedaemonians, on the other hand, though recently liberated through Antigonus and the devotion of the Achaeans, and owing it to the Macedonians and Philip to do nothing contrary to their interests, sent secret messengers to the Aetolians and privately established friendship and alliance with them.
ἤδη δʼ ἐπιλελεγμένων τῶν Ἀχαϊκῶν νεανίσκων καὶ συντεταγμένων ὑπὲρ τῆς βοηθείας τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων καὶ Μεσσηνίων, Σκερδιλαΐδας ὁμοῦ καὶ Δημήτριος ὁ Φάριος ἔπλευσαν ἐκ τῆς Ἰλλυρίδος ἐν ἐνενήκοντα λέμβοις ἔξω τοῦ Λίσσου παρὰ τὰς πρὸς Ῥωμαίους συνθήκας.
When the Achaean youth had already been selected and organized for the assistance of the Lacedaemonians and Messenians, Scerdilaidas and Demetrius of Pharos sailed together from Illyria with ninety lembi beyond Lissus, in violation of their treaty with the Romans.
οἳ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον τῇ Πύλῳ προσμίξαντες καὶ ποιησάμενοι προσβολὰς ἀπέπεσον·
These, having first approached Pylos and made assaults upon it, were repulsed;
μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Δημήτριος μὲν ἔχων τοὺς πεντήκοντα τῶν λέμβων ὥρμησεν ἐπὶ νήσων, καὶ περιπλέων τινὰς μὲν ἠργυρολόγει, τινὰς δʼ ἐπόρθει τῶν Κυκλάδων·
but after this Demetrius, with fifty of the lembi, set out for the islands, and sailing around, extorted money from some and plundered others of the Cyclades;
Σκερδιλαΐδας δὲ ποιούμενος τὸν πλοῦν ὡς ἐπʼ οἴκου προσεῖχε πρὸς Ναύπακτον μετὰ τετταράκοντα λέμβων, πεισθεὶς Ἀμυνᾷ τῷ βασιλεῖ τῶν Ἀθαμάνων, ὃς ἐτύγχανε κηδεστὴς ὑπάρχων αὐτοῦ.
while Scerdilaidas, making his voyage as if for home, put in at Naupactus with forty lembi, having been persuaded by Amynas, the king of the Athamanes, who happened to be his brother-in-law.
ποιησάμενος δὲ συνθήκας πρὸς Αἰτωλοὺς διʼ Ἀγελάου περὶ τοῦ μερισμοῦ τῶν λαφύρων, ὑπέσχετο συνεμβαλεῖν ὁμόσε τοῖς Αἰτωλοῖς εἰς τὴν Ἀχαΐαν.
Having made an agreement with the Aetolians through Agelaus regarding the division of the spoils, he promised to join them in invading Achaea.
συνθέμενοι δὲ ταῦτα πρὸς τὸν Σκερδιλαΐδαν οἱ περὶ τὸν Ἀγέλαον καὶ Δωρίμαχον καὶ Σκόπαν, πραττομένης αὐτοῖς τῆς τῶν Κυναιθέων πόλεως,3 συναθροίσαντες πανδημεὶ τοὺς Αἰτωλοὺς ἐνέβαλον εἰς
Having agreed on these terms with Scerdilaidas, Agelaus, Dorimachus, Scopas, and their associates, since the city of the Cynaethians was being betrayed to them, assembled the Aetolians in a body and invaded [Achaea].
- 4.16.2διὰ τὸ μηδὲν παράδοξον, τῶν εἰθισμένων δέ τι πεποιηκέναι τοὺς Αἰτωλούς
Two elements governed by the prepositional phrase διὰ τό are parallelized: first, an omitted impersonal construction with the adjective παράδοξον as predicate (μηδὲν παράδοξον [εἶναι]), and second, the perfect infinitive πεποιηκέναι with τοὺς Αἰτωλούς as its subject accusative. The genitive τῶν εἰθισμένων ('customary things') is a partitive genitive modifying the pronoun τι ('something'), which acts as the object of the infinitive.
- 4.16.4οὐδʼ ἀπολογίας ἔτι κατηξίουν τοὺς ἐγκαλοῦντας
The verb κατηξίουν (imperfect of καταξιόω) takes the construction of 'considering someone (accusative) worthy of something (genitive)'. Here, τοὺς ἐγκαλοῦντας is the accusative and ἀπολογίας is the genitive, meaning 'they did not even deign to offer any defense/explanation to those who accused them'. The alternative interpretation where the accusers are the ones expected to make a defense is contextually impossible.
- 4.16.11πραττομένης αὐτοῖς τῆς τῶν Κυναιθέων πόλεως
This is a genitive absolute construction. The present passive participle πραττομένης is used in a political and military idiomatic sense, meaning 'being negotiated' or 'being betrayed/delivered over'. The dative αὐτοῖς denotes either the agents ('being negotiated by them') or the dative of interest ('being betrayed to them').