- 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-grc2:4.4.1-4.4.9
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-10
Triggered by further pirate raids, the Messenian ephors summon Dorimachus. During the confrontation, the ephor Skyron insults Dorimachus by comparing him to a worthless double, which outrages Dorimachus and ultimately drives him to initiate a war against the Messenians.
ἔτι δʼ αὐτοῦ παρεπιδημοῦντος ἐν τῇ Μεσσήνῃ, συνεγγίσαντες τῇ πόλει νυκτὸς οἱ πειραταὶ καὶ προσβαλόντες κλίμακας ἐξέκοψαν τὸ Χυρῶνος καλούμενον ἐπαύλιον, καὶ τοὺς μὲν ἀμυνομένους ἀπέσφαξαν, τοὺς δὲ λοιποὺς τῶν οἰκετῶν δήσαντες καὶ τὰ κτήνη μετʼ αὐτῶν ἀπήγαγον.
While he was still staying in Messene, the pirates approached the city by night, and applying scaling-ladders, ransacked the farm called Chyron’s; they slaughtered those who defended themselves, and binding the rest of the servants, drove them off along with the cattle.
οἱ δὲ τῶν Μεσσηνίων ἔφοροι, πάλαι μὲν ἐπί τε τοῖς γινομένοις καὶ τῇ παρεπιδημίᾳ τοῦ Δωριμάχου διαλγοῦντες, τότε δὲ καὶ προσενυβρίζεσθαι δόξαντες,1 ἀνεκαλοῦντʼ αὐτὸν εἰς τὰς συναρχίας.
The ephors of the Messenians, who had long been deeply grieved by what was happening and by the presence of Dorimachus, and now felt that they were being further insulted, summoned him to the magistrates’ office.
ἐν ᾧ καιρῷ Σκύρων, ὃς ἦν μὲν ἔφορος τότε τῶν Μεσσηνίων, εὐδοκίμει δὲ καὶ κατὰ τὸν ἄλλον βίον παρὰ τοῖς πολίταις, συνεβούλευε μὴ προίεσθαι τὸν Δωρίμαχον ἐκ τῆς πόλεως, ἐὰν μὴ τὰ μὲν ἀπολωλότα πάντα τοῖς Μεσσηνίοις ἀποκαταστήσῃ, περὶ δὲ τῶν τεθνεώτων δωσιδίκους παράσχῃ τοὺς ἠδικηκότας.
On this occasion, Skyron, who was then an ephor of the Messenians and otherwise highly esteemed among the citizens for his general conduct, advised them not to let Dorimachus leave the city unless he restored all the lost property to the Messenians and surrendered the wrongdoers to stand trial for the dead.
πάντων δʼ ἐπισημηναμένων ὡς δίκαια λέγοντος τοῦ Σκύρωνος, διοργισθεὶς ὁ Δωρίμαχος εὐήθεις αὐτοὺς ἔφη τελέως ὑπάρχειν, εἰ Δωρίμαχον οἴονται νῦν προπηλακίζειν, ἀλλʼ οὐ τὸ κοινὸν τῶν Αἰτωλῶν· καὶ καθόλου δεινὸν ἡγεῖτο τὸ γινόμενον, καὶ κοινῆς αὐτοὺς ἐπιστροφῆς ἔφη τεύξεσθαι, καὶ τοῦτο πείσεσθαι δικαίως.
When everyone applauded Skyron’s words as just, Dorimachus became furious and said that they were utterly foolish if they thought they were now insulting Dorimachus and not the Aetolian League; and in general he regarded what was happening as a grave outrage, saying that they would face a collective retribution, and would suffer this justly.
ἦν δέ τις κατʼ ἐκείνους τοὺς καιροὺς ἄνθρωπος ἀσυρὴς ἐν τῇ Μεσσήνῃ, τῶν ἐξηρμένων τὸν ἄνδρα κατὰ πάντα τρόπον,2 ὄνομα Βαβύρτας, ᾧ τις εἰ περιέθηκε τὴν καυσίαν καὶ χλαμύδα τοῦ Δωριμάχου, μὴ οἷόν τʼ εἶναι διαγινώσκειν·3
Now there was at that time in Messene a worthless fellow named Baburtas, who in every way resembled Dorimachus so perfectly that if one were to put Dorimachus’s causia and chlamys on him, it would be impossible to tell them apart;
ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον ἐξωμοίωτο κατά τε τὴν φωνὴν καὶ τἄλλα μέρη τοῦ σώματος τῷ προειρημένῳ. καὶ τοῦτʼ οὐκ ἐλάνθανε τὸν Δωρίμαχον.
so closely did he resemble the aforementioned man in his voice and the other parts of his body. And Dorimachus was well aware of this.
ὁμιλοῦντος οὖν [αὐτοῦ] ἀνατατικῶς τότε καὶ μάλʼ ὑπερηφάνως τοῖς Μεσσηνίοις, περιοργισθεὶς ὁ Σκύρων "νομίζεις γὰρ ἡμῖν" ἔφη "σοῦ μέλειν ἢ τῆς σῆς ἀνατάσεως, Βαβύρτα;" ῥηθέντος δὲ τούτου, παραυτίκα μὲν εἴξας ὁ Δωρίμαχος τῇ περιστάσει συνεχώρησε πάντων ἐπιστροφὴν ποιήσεσθαι τῶν γεγονότων ἀδικημάτων τοῖς Μεσσηνίοις·
So, when Dorimachus was talking to the Messenians in a threatening and very arrogant manner, Skyron, losing his temper, said, “Do you think we care about you or your threats, Baburtas?” When this was said, Dorimachus, yielding immediately to the circumstances, agreed to make amends to the Messenians for all the outrages that had occurred;
ἐπανελθὼν δʼ εἰς τὴν Αἰτωλίαν οὕτω πικρῶς ἤνεγκε καὶ βαρέως τὸ ῥηθὲν ὡς οὐδεμίαν ἄλλην ἔχων εὔλογον πρόφασιν4 διʼ αὐτὸ τοῦτο τοῖς Μεσσηνίοις ἐξέκαυσε τὸν πόλεμον.
but on returning to Aetolia, he took what had been said so bitterly and heavily that, although he had no other reasonable pretext, he kindled the war against the Messenians for this very reason.
- 4.4.2προσενυβρίζεσθαι δόξαντες
The participle δόξαντες, taking the passive infinitive προσενυβρίζεσθαι ('to be further insulted'), means 'feeling' or 'perceiving themselves to be' rather than 'seeming to others'. It indicates the ephors' subjective recognition of a direct affront.
- 4.4.5τῶν ἐξηρμένων τὸν ἄνδρα κατὰ πάντα τρόπον
The perfect passive participle τῶν ἐξηρμένων means 'moulded to look like' or 'perfectly representing'. The genitive acts as a partitive genitive ('one of those who...'), while the accusative τὸν ἄνδρα functions as the direct object of the middle-passive participle (indicating 'having copied the man') or as an accusative of respect.
- 4.4.5ᾧ τις εἰ περιέθηκε ... μὴ οἷόν τʼ εἶναι διαγινώσκειν
Inside the relative clause introduced by ᾧ, a past counterfactual condition (εἰ περιέθηκε, past indicative) is embedded, leading to the infinitive of result μὴ οἷόν τʼ εἶναι ('it was impossible to distinguish'). This complex structure serves to emphasize the extreme resemblance.
- 4.4.9ὡς οὐδεμίαν ἄλλην ἔχων εὔλογον πρόφασιν
The combination of the conjunction ὡς with the participle ἔχων expresses a subjective reason or pretext ('alleging that...', 'on the ground that...'). It implies that although he had no other reasonable pretext, he consciously used this personal insult as the sole justification for war.