- 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-grc2:8.30.1-8.30.12
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-08
Hannibal orders the occupation of key points in Tarentum, instructing his forces to protect Tarentine citizens while slaughtering the Romans. The drunken Roman commander Gaius flees, and after widespread confusion and the massacre of Roman soldiers, the Tarentines realize the Carthaginian presence.
προχωρεῖν τὴν πρᾶξιν εἴχετο τῶν προκειμένων.1 ἀπομερίσας δὲ τῶν Κελτῶν εἰς δισχιλίους, καὶ διελὼν εἰς τρία μέρη τούτους, συνέστησε τῶν νεανίσκων δύο πρὸς ἕκαστον μέρος τῶν χειριζόντων τὴν πρᾶξιν.
being filled with joy at the success of his plan, as the enterprise was progressing, he devoted himself to the immediate tasks. Having set aside about two thousand of the Celts, and having divided them into three parts, he assigned to each part two of the young men who were conducting the enterprise.
ἀκολούθως δὲ καὶ τῶν παρʼ αὑτοῦ τινας ἡγεμόνων συνεξαπέστειλε, προστάξας διαλαβεῖν τῶν εἰς τὴν ἀγορὰν φερουσῶν ὁδῶν τὰς εὐκαιροτάτας.
In a similar manner, he also sent out with them some of his own officers, ordering them to occupy the most convenient of the streets leading to the agora.
ὅταν δὲ τοῦτο πράξωσι, τοῖς μὲν ἐγχωρίοις νεανίσκοις ἐξαιρεῖσθαι παρήγγειλε καὶ σῴζειν τοὺς ἐντυγχάνοντας τῶν πολιτῶν, ἀναβοῶντας ἐκ πολλοῦ μένειν κατὰ χώραν Ταραντίνους, ὡς ὑπαρχούσης αὐτοῖς τῆς ἀσφαλείας,2 τοῖς δὲ παρὰ τῶν Καρχηδονίων καὶ τῶν Κελτῶν ἡγεμόσι κτείνειν διεκελεύσατο τοὺς ἐντυγχάνοντας τῶν Ῥωμαίων. οὗτοι μὲν οὖν χωρισθέντες ἀλλήλων ἔπραττον μετὰ ταῦτα τὸ προσταχθέν.
And when they should have done this, he instructed the local young men to select and save those of the citizens whom they met, crying out from afar that the Tarentines should remain where they were, since their safety was assured. But to the officers of the Carthaginians and Celts, he gave orders to kill any of the Romans they met. These, then, having separated from one another, proceeded to carry out their orders.
τῆς δὲ τῶν πολεμίων εἰσόδου καταφανοῦς ἤδη γενομένης τοῖς Ταραντίνοις, πλήρης ἡ πόλις κραυγῆς ἐγίνετο καὶ ταραχῆς παρηλλαγμένης.
The entry of the enemy having now become manifest to the Tarentines, the city became full of clamour and extraordinary confusion.
ὁ μὲν οὖν Γάϊος, προσπεσούσης αὐτῷ τῆς εἰσόδου τῶν πολεμίων, συννοήσας ἀδύνατον αὑτὸν ὄντα διὰ τὴν μέθην, εὐθέως ἐξελθὼν ἐκ τῆς οἰκίας μετὰ τῶν οἰκετῶν καὶ παραγενόμενος ἐπὶ τὴν πύλην τὴν φέρουσαν ἐπὶ τὸν λιμένα, καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα τοῦ φύλακος ἀνοίξαντος αὐτῷ τὴν ῥινοπύλην, διαδὺς ταύτῃ καὶ λαβόμενος ἀκατίου τῶν ὁρμούντων, ἐμβὰς μετὰ τῶν οἰκετῶν εἰς τὴν ἄκραν παρεκομίσθη.3
Now Gaius, when the entry of the enemy was reported to him, realizing that he was incapable of action owing to his drunkenness, immediately went out of his house with his servants and reached the gate leading to the harbor, and afterwards, the guard having opened the Rhinopyle for him, he slipped through it, and laying hold of one of the boats riding at anchor, embarked with his servants and was conveyed safely to the citadel.
κατὰ δὲ τὸν καιρὸν τοῦτον οἱ περὶ τὸν Φιλήμενον, ἡτοιμασμένοι σάλπιγγας Ῥωμαϊκὰς καί τινας τῶν αὐταῖς χρῆσθαι δυναμένων διὰ τὴν συνήθειαν, στάντες ἐπὶ τὸ θέατρον ἐσήμαινον.
At this juncture Philemenus and his men, having prepared Roman trumpets and some who were able to blow them owing to their familiarity with them, stood in the theatre and sounded the signal.
τῶν δὲ Ῥωμαίων βοηθούντων ἐν τοῖς ὅπλοις κατὰ τὸν ἐθισμὸν εἰς τὴν ἄκραν, ἐχώρει τὸ πρᾶγμα κατὰ τὴν πρόθεσιν τοῖς Καρχηδονίοις·
While the Romans, according to their custom, were rushing in arms to the citadel to give assistance, the affair turned out according to the design of the Carthaginians.
παραγενόμενοι γὰρ ταῖς πλατείαις ἀτάκτως καὶ σποράδην οἱ μὲν εἰς τοὺς Καρχηδονίους ἐνέπιπτον, οἱ δʼ εἰς τοὺς Κελτούς· καὶ δὴ τῷ τοιούτῳ τρόπῳ φονευομένων αὐτῶν πολύ τι πλῆθος διεφθάρη.
For arriving in the streets in disorder and scattered, some fell in with the Carthaginians and others with the Celts; and indeed, being slaughtered in this manner, a very great number of them was destroyed.
τῆς δʼ ἡμέρας ἐπιφαινομένης οἱ μὲν Ταραντῖνοι τὴν ἡσυχίαν εἶχον κατὰ τὰς οἰκήσεις, οὐδέπω δυνάμενοι τάξασθαι τὸ συμβαῖνον.
As day began to appear, the Tarentines remained quiet in their houses, being not yet able to make out what was happening.
διὰ μὲν γὰρ τὴν σάλπιγγα καὶ τὸ μηδὲν ἀδίκημα γίνεσθαι μηδʼ ἁρπαγὴν κατὰ τὴν πόλιν, ἔδοξαν ἐξ αὐτῶν τῶν Ῥωμαίων εἶναι τὸ κίνημα.
For owing to the trumpet-call and to the fact that no outrage or plundering was taking place throughout the city, they thought that the movement originated from the Romans themselves.
τὸ δὲ πολλοὺς αὐτῶν ὁρᾶν πεφονευμένους ἐν ταῖς πλατείαις, καί τινας τῶν Γαλατῶν θεωρεῖσθαι σκυλεύοντας τοὺς τῶν Ῥωμαίων νεκρούς, ὑπέτρεχέ τις ἔννοια τῆς τῶν Καρχηδονίων παρουσίας.
But seeing many of them slaughtered in the streets, and some of the Gauls being observed stripping the corpses of the Romans, a suspicion of the presence of the Carthaginians began to steal into their minds.
- 8.30.1προχωρεῖν τὴν πρᾶξιν εἴχετο τῶν προκειμένων
A continuation of the sentence from the end of the previous chapter, where Ἀννίβας is the subject. The infinitive προχωρεῖν is governed by the articular dative τῷ from the preceding section (τῷ ... προχωρεῖν), meaning 'at the progress of the affair [according to his mind]'. The main verb of the clause is εἴχετο, which takes the genitive τῶν προκειμένων as its object, meaning 'he applied himself to the tasks before him.'
- 8.30.3ὡς ὑπαρχούσης αὐτοῖς τῆς ἀσφαλείας
A genitive absolute construction (ὑπαρχούσης τῆς ἀσφαλείας) introduced by ὡς, presenting the subjective ground or assurance given to the citizens (that 'their safety was assured'). The dative αὐτοῖς refers to the citizens (τοὺς ἐντυγχάνοντας τῶν πολιτῶν).
- 8.30.6ὁ μὲν οὖν Γάϊος... παρεκομίσθη
A very long sentence extending from the subject Γάϊος to the main passive verb παρεκομίσθη. Between them, two genitive absolutes (προσπεσούσης αὐτῷ τῆς εἰσόδου τῶν πολεμίων and τοῦ φύλακος ἀνοίξαντος αὐτῷ τὴν ῥινοπύλην) and a series of nominative participles agreeing with the subject (συννοήσας, ἐξελθών, παραγενόμενος, διαδύς, λαβόμενος, ἐμβάς) are inserted in chronological order to describe the sequence of Gaius's escape.