- 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-grc2:5.27.1-5.27.8
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-09
While Megaleas flees from Athens to Thebes, King Philip stays with Aratus and orders the arrest of Leontius after sending away the peltasts on a pretext. The peltasts send envoys to protest and offer to pay the fine, which only further provokes the king.
Ἐλατείας ἀνέστρεφε,1 κατὰ δὲ τὸν καιρὸν τοῦτον ὁ Μεγαλέας εἰς τὰς Ἀθήνας ἀπεχώρησε, καταλιπὼν τὸν Λεόντιον ἐν ἐγγύῃ τῶν εἴκοσι ταλάντων.
returned from Elatea. At this time Megaleas withdrew to Athens, leaving Leontius as surety for the twenty talents.
τῶν δʼ ἐν ταῖς Ἀθήναις στρατηγῶν οὐ προσδεξαμένων αὐτόν, μετῆλθε πάλιν εἰς τὰς Θήβας.
But when the generals in Athens did not receive him, he went back to Thebes.
ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς ἀναχθεὶς ἐκ τῶν κατὰ Κίρραν τόπων κατέπλευσε μετὰ τῶν ὑπασπιστῶν εἰς τὸν τῶν Σικυωνίων λιμένα, κἀκεῖθεν ἀναβὰς εἰς τὴν πόλιν τοὺς μὲν ἄρχοντας παρῃτήσατο, παρὰ δʼ Ἄρατον καταλύσας μετὰ τούτου τὴν πᾶσαν ἐποιεῖτο διαγωγήν, τῷ δʼ Ἀπελλῇ συνέταξε πλεῖν εἰς Κόρινθον.
The king, having put to sea from the district of Cirrha, sailed with his hypaspists into the harbour of Sicyon; and having gone up from there to the city, he declined the invitations of the magistrates, and lodging at the house of Aratus, spent all his time with him, while he ordered Apelles to sail to Corinth.
προσπεσόντων δὲ τῶν κατὰ τὸν Μεγαλέαν αὐτῷ, τοὺς μὲν πελταστάς, ὧν ἡγεῖτο Λεόντιος, εἰς τὴν Τριφυλίαν ἐξαπέστειλε μετὰ Ταυρίωνος, ὥς τινος χρείας κατεπειγούσης, τούτων δʼ ἀφορμησάντων, ἀπαγαγεῖν ἐκέλευσε τὸν Λεόντιον πρὸς τὴν ἀναδοχήν.2
When the news concerning Megaleas reached him, he sent off the peltasts, whom Leontius commanded, to Triphylia with Taurion, on the pretext of some urgent necessity; and when they had set out, he ordered Leontius to be led away to prison because of his surety.
συνέντες δʼ οἱ πελτασταὶ τὸ γεγονός, διαπεμψαμένου τινὰ πρὸς αὐτοὺς τοῦ Λεοντίου, πρεσβευτὰς ἐξαπέστειλαν πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα, παρακαλοῦντες, εἰ μὲν πρὸς ἄλλο τι πεποίηται3 τὴν ἀπαγωγὴν τοῦ Λεοντίου, μὴ χωρὶς αὑτῶν ποιήσασθαι τὴν ὑπὲρ τῶν ἐγκαλουμένων κρίσιν, εἰ δὲ μή, ὅτι νομιοῦσι4 μεγαλείως παρολιγωρεῖσθαι καὶ καταγινώσκεσθαι πάντες — εἶχον γὰρ ἀεὶ τὴν τοιαύτην ἰσηγορίαν Μακεδόνες πρὸς τοὺς βασιλεῖς —
The peltasts, having understood what had happened because Leontius had sent someone to them, dispatched envoys to the king, entreating him that, if he had made the arrest of Leontius for some other reason, he should not conduct the trial on the charges without them; otherwise, they would consider themselves all to be greatly slighted and condemned—for the Macedonians always had this kind of freedom of speech towards their kings—
εἰ δὲ πρὸς τὴν ἐγγύην τοῦ Μεγαλέου, διότι τὰ χρήματα κατὰ κοινὸν εἰσενέγκαντες ἐκτίσουσιν αὐτοί.
but if it was because of the surety for Megaleas, they themselves would pay it by contributing the money in common.
τὸν μὲν οὖν Λεόντιον ὁ βασιλεὺς παροξυνθεὶς θᾶττον ἢ προέθετο διὰ τὴν τῶν πελταστῶν5
The king, therefore, provoked more quickly than he had intended by that of the peltasts, [ordered] Leontius...
- 5.27.1Ἐλατείας ἀνέστρεφε
Directly continues the incomplete ending of the previous chapter "οὗτος μὲν αὖτις ἐξ" (the latter again from...), with the subject being the demonstrative pronoun οὗτος (Apelles) from the preceding sentence.
- 5.27.4πρὸς τὴν ἀναδοχήν
The preposition πρός here expresses cause or ground ("on account of", "by reason of"), referring to Leontius's failure to fulfill his obligation as surety (ἐγγύη) for the twenty talents of Megaleas.
- 5.27.5εἰ μὲν πρὸς ἄλλο τι πεποίηται
πεποίηται is the third-person singular perfect middle/passive. The subject is contextually the king (Philip), either interpreted in the middle voice (with active meaning, "he has made") or as a passive ("has been made" with the arrest as subject). Here the middle interpretation with the king as subject is adopted.
- 5.27.6εἰ δὲ μή, ὅτι νομιοῦσι
The ὅτι clause following εἰ δὲ μή ("otherwise") introduces an indirect statement, carrying over the nuance of a verb of saying or warning implied by the preceding participle παρακαλοῦντες ("entreating").
- 5.27.8διὰ τὴν τῶν πελταστῶν
The feminine singular accusative article τὴν implies the omission of a feminine noun such as πρεσβείαν (embassy) or ἔντευξιν (petition) of the peltasts mentioned above. This chunk ends in the middle of the sentence.