- 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-grc2:5.40.1-5.40.7
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-09
Theodotus, governor of Coele-Syria, plans to defect to Antiochus out of contempt and distrust for Ptolemy. The author traces back the accession of Antiochus to set the stage for the upcoming war.
μετὰ δὲ τοῦτον οὐ πολὺ κατόπιν Θεόδοτος ὁ τεταγμένος ἐπὶ Κοίλης Συρίας, ὢν τὸ γένος Αἰτωλός, τὰ μὲν καταφρονήσας τοῦ βασιλέως διὰ τὴν ἀσέλγειαν τοῦ βίου καὶ τῆς ὅλης αἱρέσεως, τὰ δὲ1 διαπιστήσας τοῖς περὶ τὴν αὐλὴν διὰ τὸ μικροῖς ἔμπροσθεν χρόνοις ἀξιολόγους παρασχόμενος χρείας τῷ βασιλεῖ περί τε τἄλλα καὶ περὶ τὴν πρώτην ἐπιβολὴν Ἀντιόχου τοῖς κατὰ Κοίλην Συρίαν πράγμασι, μὴ οἷον ἐπὶ τούτοις τυχεῖν τινος χάριτος, ἀλλὰ τοὐναντίον ἀνακληθεὶς εἰς τὴν Ἀλεξάνδρειαν παρʼ ὀλίγον κινδυνεῦσαι23 τῷ βίῳ, διὰ ταύτας τὰς αἰτίας ἐπεβάλετο τότε λαλεῖν Ἀντιόχῳ καὶ τὰς κατὰ Κοίλην Συρίαν πόλεις ἐγχειρίζειν. τοῦ δʼ ἀσμένως δεξαμένου4 τὴν ἐλπίδα, ταχεῖαν ἐλάμβανε τὸ πρᾶγμα τὴν οἰκονομίαν.
Not long after this, Theodotus, who had been placed in command of Coele-Syria, an Aetolian by birth, partly because he despised the king for his debauched life and general conduct, and partly because he distrusted those at court—for though he had shortly before rendered valuable services to the king in other matters and especially during the first attack of Antiochus on the affairs of Coele-Syria, far from receiving any thanks for this, he had on the contrary been summoned to Alexandria and had narrowly escaped with his life— for these reasons, he then undertook to negotiate with Antiochus and to deliver up to him the cities of Coele-Syria. Since Antiochus gladly welcomed this prospect, the matter quickly progressed.
ἵνα δὲ καὶ περὶ ταύτης τῆς οἰκίας τὸ παραπλήσιον ποιήσωμεν, ἀναδραμόντες ἐπὶ τὴν παράληψιν τῆς Ἀντιόχου δυναστείας ἀπὸ τούτων τῶν καιρῶν ποιησόμεθα κεφαλαιώδη τὴν ἔφοδον ἐπὶ τὴν ἀρχὴν τοῦ μέλλοντος λέγεσθαι πολέμου.
But in order that we may follow a similar course with regard to this royal house also, we will go back to the accession of Antiochus, and starting from that period, we will make a summary approach to the beginning of the war of which we are about to speak.
Ἀντίοχος γὰρ ἦν μὲν υἱὸς νεώτερος Σελεύκου τοῦ Καλλινίκου προσαγορευθέντος, μεταλλάξαντος δὲ τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ διαδεξαμένου τἀδελφοῦ Σελεύκου τὴν βασιλείαν διὰ τὴν ἡλικίαν, τὸ μὲν πρῶτον τοῖς ἄνω τόποις μεθιστάμενος ἐποιεῖτο τὴν διατριβήν, ἐπεὶ δὲ Σέλευκος μετὰ δυνάμεως ὑπερβαλὼν τὸν Ταῦρον ἐδολοφονήθη, καθάπερ καὶ πρότερον εἰρήκαμεν, μεταλαβὼν τὴν ἀρχὴν αὐτὸς ἐβασίλευσε, διαπιστεύων τὴν μὲν ἐπὶ τάδε τοῦ Ταύρου δυναστείαν Ἀχαιῷ, τὰ δʼ ἄνω μέρη τῆς βασιλείας ἐγκεχειρικὼς5 Μόλωνι καὶ τἀδελφῷ τῷ Μόλωνος Ἀλεξάνδρῳ, Μόλωνος μὲν Μηδίας ὑπάρχοντος σατράπου, τἀδελφοῦ δὲ τῆς
For Antiochus was the younger son of Seleucus surnamed Callinicus; and when his father died and his brother Seleucus succeeded to the kingdom by right of seniority, he at first removed to the upper districts and resided there. But when Seleucus, having crossed Mount Taurus with an army, was assassinated, as we have already mentioned, he succeeded to the sovereign power and reigned himself, entrusting the government of the country on this side of Taurus to Achaeus, and having committed the upper parts of the kingdom to Molo and Molo’s brother Alexander, Molo being satrap of Media, and his brother of...
- 5.40.1τὰ μὲν... τὰ δὲ...
Adverbial accusatives used in a 'partly... partly...' construction, indicating the two parallel motives of Theodotus' planned defection to Antiochus.
- 5.40.2διὰ τὸ... κινδυνεῦσαι
A complex structure where the substantivized articular infinitive introduced by διὰ τὸ governs the infinitives τυχεῖν and κινδυνεῦσαι. The nominative participles παρασχόμενος and ἀνακληθείς agree with the logical subject of the main clause.
- 5.40.2παρʼ ὀλίγον κινδυνεῦσαι
The idiomatic expression παρʼ ὀλίγον ('within a little', 'almost') modifies the infinitive κινδυνεῦσαι ('to run a risk'), creating the meaning of 'narrowly escaping death'.
- 5.40.3τοῦ δʼ ἀσμένως δεξαμένου
A genitive absolute construction where the pronoun τοῦ (referring to Antiochus) serves as the logical subject of the aorist participle δεξαμένου.
- 5.40.7διαπιστεύων... ἐγκεχειρικώς
The tense distinction between the present participle διαπιστεύων (ongoing or current trust given to Achaeus) and the perfect participle ἐγκεχειρικώς (already completed assignment to Molo and Alexander) reflects the differing administrative status of the two regions.