Rhodes Declares War on Byzantium and Allies with Prusias — Polybius, The Histories Book 4 (4.47.1–4.47.7), Greek & English

§4.47.1

αγωγιάζειν¹ τοὺς εἰς τὸν Πόντον πλέοντας. μεγάλης δὲ γενομένης τῆς ἀλυσιτελείας καὶ δυσχρηστίας πᾶσιν ἐκ τοῦ τέλος πράττειν² τοὺς Βυζαντίους τῶν ἐξαγομένων ἐκ τοῦ Πόντου, δεινὸν ἡγοῦντο, καὶ πάντες ἐνεκάλουν οἱ πλοϊζόμενοι τοῖς Ῥοδίοις διὰ τὸ δοκεῖν τούτους προεστάναι τῶν κατὰ θάλατταν. ἐξ οὗ συνέβη φῦναι τὸν πόλεμον, ὑπὲρ οὗ νῦν ἡμεῖς ἱστορεῖν μέλλομεν. οἱ γὰρ Ῥόδιοι, συνεξεγερθέντες ἅμα μὲν διὰ τὴν σφετέραν βλάβην, ἅμα δὲ καὶ διὰ τὴν τῶν πέλας ἐλάττωσιν, τὸ μὲν πρῶτον παραλαβόντες τοὺς συμμάχους ἐπρέσβευον πρὸς τοὺς Βυζαντίους, ἀξιοῦντες καταλύσειν αὐτοὺς τὸ παραγώγιον·

to levy a toll on those sailing into the Pontus. Since great unprofitableness and inconvenience arose to everyone from the Byzantines exacting a tax on goods exported from the Pontus, they regarded this as a serious grievance, and all those who sailed the sea complained to the Rhodians because the latter were thought to protect the interests of the sea. It was from this that the war arose, which we are now about to relate. For the Rhodians, being excited to action both by their own loss and also by the disadvantage of their neighbors, at first sent embassies to the Byzantines together with their allies, demanding that they should abolish the toll;

§4.47.4

οὐκ ἐντρεπομένων δὲ τοῖς ὅλοις, ἀλλὰ πεπεισμένων δίκαια λέγειν ἐκ τῆς ἀντικαταστάσεως³ τῆς γενομένης παρʼ αὐτοῖς τῶν περὶ τὸν Ἑκατόδωρον καὶ Ὀλυμπιόδωρον πρὸς τοὺς τῶν Ῥοδίων πρεσβευτάς —

but since they paid no attention at all, but were convinced that they were in the right, judging from the counter-arguments made among them to the Rhodian ambassadors by the party of Hecatodorus and Olympiodorus—

§4.47.5

οὗτοι γὰρ τότε προέστησαν τοῦ τῶν Βυζαντίων πολιτεύματος — τότε μὲν ἀπηλλάγησαν οἱ Ῥόδιοι περάναντες οὐδέν, ἐπανελθόντες δὲ τὸν πόλεμον ἐψηφίσαντο τοῖς Βυζαντίοις διὰ τὰς προειρημένας αἰτίας.

for these men at that time directed the government of the Byzantines—the Rhodians then departed having accomplished nothing, but upon returning, they voted for war against the Byzantines for the reasons mentioned above.

§4.47.7

καὶ παραυτίκα πρεσβευτὰς ἐξαπέστελλον πρὸς Προυσίαν, παρακαλοῦντες καὶ τοῦτον εἰς τὸν πόλεμον· ᾔδεσαν γὰρ τὸν Προυσίαν παρατριβόμενον⁴ ἔκ τινων πρὸς τοὺς

And they immediately dispatched ambassadors to Prusias, inviting him also to join the war; for they knew that Prusias was at variance with the Byzantines on certain matters...

Syntax notes4 items

4.47.1αγωγιάζειν
Connects with παρ... at the end of the previous chunk to form the compound verb παραγωγιάζειν ("to levy transit dues"). It functions as a complementary infinitive depending on the verb ἐνεχείρησαν ("they attempted") in the previous section.
4.47.1ἐκ τοῦ τέλος πράττειν
An articular infinitive in the genitive governed by the preposition ἐκ, expressing cause. The accusative τοὺς Βυζαντίους is the subject of πράττειν ("to exact"), while τέλος ("tax") is its direct object, and τῶν ἐξαγομένων is a partitive/objective genitive indicating the goods taxed.
4.47.4ἐκ τῆς ἀντικαταστάσεως
The noun ἀντικατάστασις here means "counter-pleading" or "debate". The genitive phrase τῶν περὶ τὸν Ἑκατόδωρον... acts as a subject genitive indicating who made the arguments, while πρὸς τοὺς... denotes the target of the debate (the Rhodian ambassadors).
4.47.7παρατριβόμενον
A supplementary participle in indirect discourse after ᾔδεσαν ("they knew"), qualifying the accusative object τὸν Προυσίαν to show his ongoing state of friction/variance.

Translated by Gemini 3.5 Flash (published 2026-05-25) · Revision history (1, latest 2026-09-21)

2026-09-21 AI review — translation 1

urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0543.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:4.47.1-4.47.7