- 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-grc2:9.16.1-9.16.5
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-07
The author explains why astronomical observations must not be neglected, citing Odysseus as an example and contrasting foreseeable events with unpredictable natural phenomena.
τοιοῦτοι πάντες. ᾗ1 καὶ τὸν ποιητὴν ἄν τις ἐπαινέσειε, διότι παρεισάγει τὸν Ὀδυσσέα, τὸν ἡγεμονικώτατον ἄνδρα, τεκμαιρόμενον2 ἐκ τῶν ἄστρων οὐ μόνον τὰ κατὰ τοὺς πλοῦς, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ περὶ τὰς ἐν τῇ γῇ πράξεις.
Such are they all. Wherefore one might also praise the poet for introducing Odysseus, the most leading man, as inferring from the stars not only what concerned his voyages, but also his actions on land.
ἱκανὰ γὰρ καὶ τὰ παρὰ δόξαν γινόμενα μὴ δυνάμενα τυγχάνειν προνοίας ἀκριβοῦς εἰς τὸ πολλὴν ἀπορίαν παρασκευάζειν3 καὶ πολλάκις, οἷον ὄμβρων καὶ ποταμῶν ἐπιφοραὶ καὶ πάγων ὑπερβολαὶ καὶ χιόνες, ἔτι δʼ ὁ καπνώδης καὶ συννεφὴς ἀὴρ καὶ τἄλλα τὰ παραπλήσια τούτοις.
For even those events which happen contrary to expectation and which cannot be precisely foreseen are sufficient to cause great difficulty, and that frequently; as, for example, downpours of rain and torrents of rivers, excessive frosts and snows, and further a misty and cloudy atmosphere, and other things similar to these.
εἰ δὲ καὶ περὶ ὧν δυνατόν ἐστι προϊδέσθαι, καὶ τούτων ὀλιγωρήσομεν, πῶς οὐκ εἰκότως ἐν τοῖς πλείστοις ἀποτευξόμεθα διʼ αὑτούς;
But if, even regarding those matters which it is possible to foresee, we are negligent of them, how is it not natural that we should fail through our own fault in most of our undertakings?
διόπερ οὐκ ἀφροντιστητέον οὐδενὸς τῶν προειρημένων, ἵνα μὴ τοιούτοις ἀλογήμασι περιπίπτωμεν οἵοις φασὶ περιπεσεῖν4 ἑτέρους τε πλείους καὶ τοὺς νῦν ὑφʼ ἡμῶν λέγεσθαι μέλλοντας ὑποδείγματος χάριν.
Therefore, we must not be careless of any of the aforementioned things, so that we may not fall into such errors of calculation as they say many others have fallen into, and those who are now about to be mentioned by us for the sake of example.
- 9.16.1ᾗ
A relative adverb derived from the feminine dative singular of the relative pronoun, referring back to the preceding context to mean 'wherefore' or 'in which respect'.
- 9.16.1παρεισάγει ... τεκμαιρόμενον
A predicative participle construction where the participle τεκμαιρόμενον acts as a predicative adjunct to τὸν Ὀδυσσέα, the direct object of the verb παρεισάγω ('to introduce'), describing the character in the act of inferring.
- 9.16.2ἱκανὰ ... εἰς τὸ ... παρασκευάζειν
The neuter plural nominative adjective ἱκανά serves as the predicate for the subject clause beginning with τὰ παρὰ δόξαν γινόμενα. The subsequent prepositional articular infinitive phrase εἰς τὸ ... παρασκευάζειν depends on ἱκανά, expressing the result or purpose of the sufficiency ('sufficient to cause').
- 9.16.5οἵοις φασὶ περιπεσεῖν
The relative pronoun οἵοις undergoes case attraction into the dative under the influence of its antecedent ἀλογήμασι and the infinitive περιπεσεῖν, which governs the dative. The verb φασί functions parenthetically within the relative clause ('such as they say [they] fell into').