Humanitext Reader

Plutarch · Life of Cato the Elder §14.1-14.4

Rout of Antiochus and Cato Bringing News of Victory

Passage 14 of 27 · Greek

Summary

The forces of Antiochus are routed and self-destruct under the frontal assault of Manius and the ambush of Cato, who boasts greatly of his achievement. Sent back immediately to Rome with the news of victory, Cato returns with remarkable speed, filling the citizens with joy and imperial pride.

§14.1ἐν τούτῳ δὲ καί τοῦ Μανίου κάτωθεν πρὸς τὰ διατειχίσματα βιαζομένου καί τοῖς στενοῖς προσβάλλοντος ἀθρόαν τὴν δύναμιν, ὁ μέν Ἀντίοχος εἰς τὸ στόμα λίθῳ πληγείς ἐκτιναχθέντων αὐτοῦ τῶν ὀδόντων ἀπ έστρεψε τὸν ἵππον ὀπίσω, περιαλγὴς γενόμενος, τοῦ δὲ στρατοῦ μέρος οὐδὲν ὑπέμεινε τοὺς Ῥωμαίους, §14.2ἀλλὰ καίπερ ἀπόρους καί ἀμηχάνους τῆς φυγῆς ὁδοὺς καί πλάνας ἐχούσης, ἑλῶν βαθέων καί πετρῶν ἀποτόμων τὰ πτώματα καί τὰς ὀλισθήσεις ὑποδεχομένων, εἰς ταῦτα διὰ τῶν στενῶν ὑπερχεόμενοι καί συνωθοῦντες ἀλλήλους φόβῳ πληγῆς καί σιδήρου πολεμίων αὑτοὺς διέφθειρον.
Meanwhile, while Manius was pressing hard from below toward the fortifications and attacking the pass with his entire force, Antiochus himself, hit in the mouth with a stone so that his teeth were knocked out, turned his horse back, being in extreme pain; and no part of his army withstood the Romans, but although the escape routes and wanderings of their flight were difficult and desperate, and deep marshes and steep cliffs received their falls and slips, they, pouring through the narrow pass and crowding one another into these places out of fear of the enemy's blows and iron swords, destroyed themselves.
ὁ δὲ Κάτων ἀεὶ μέν τις ἦν, ὡς ἔοικε, τῶν ἰδίων ἐγκωμίων ἀφειδὴς καί τὴν ἄντικρυς μεγαλαυχίαν ὡς ἐπακολούθημα τῆς μεγαλουργίας οὐκ ἔφευγε, πλεῖστον δὲ ταῖς πράξεσι ταύταις ὄγκον περιτέθεικε, §14.3καί φησι τοῖς ἰδοῦσιν αὐτόν τότε διώκοντα καί παίοντα τοὺς πολεμίους παραστῆναι μηδὲν ὀφείλειν Κάτωνα τῷ δήμῳ τοσοῦτον, ὅσον Κάτωνι τὸν δῆμον, αὐτόν τε Μάνιον τὸν ὕπατον θερμὸν ἀπὸ τῆς νίκης ἔτι θερμῷ περιπλακέντα πολὺν χρόνον ἀσπάζεσθαι καὶ βοᾶν ὑπὸ χαρᾶς, ὡς οὔτʼ ἂν αὐτὸς οὔθʼ ὁ σύμπας δῆμος ἐξισώσειε τὰς ἀμοιβὰς ταῖς Κάτωνος εὐεργεσίαις.
Now Cato was always, as it seems, unsparing of his own praises, and did not avoid outright boasting as a natural consequence of great deeds, but to these achievements he has attached the greatest importance, and he says that it occurred to those who saw him then pursuing and striking down the enemy, that Cato owed nothing to the people so much as the people owed to Cato; and that the consul Manius himself, still hot from the victory, embraced him while he was also still warm, hugged him for a long time, and cried out for joy that neither he himself nor the entire people could ever make equal returns for Cato's benefactions.
§14.4μετὰ δὲ τὴν μάχην εὐθὺς εἰς Ῥώμην ἐπέμπετο τῶν ἠγωνισμένων αὐτάγγελος· καί διέπλευσε μέν εἰς Βρεντέσιον εὐτυχῶς, μιᾷ δʼ ἡμέρᾳ διελάσας ἐκεῖθεν εἰς Τάραντα καί τέσσαρας ἄλλας ὁδεύσας πεμπταῖος εἰς Ῥώμην ἀπὸ θαλάσσης ἀφίκετο καί πρῶτος ἀπήγγειλε τὴν νίκην.
Immediately after the battle he was sent to Rome as a messenger of his own achievements; and having sailed to Brundisium successfully, and riding from there to Tarentum in one day, and traveling four other days, he arrived at Rome from the sea on the fifth day, and was the first to announce the victory.
καί τὴν μέν πόλιν ἐνέπλησεν εὐφροσύνης καὶ θυσιῶν, φρονήματος δὲ τὸν δῆμον ὡς πάσης γῆς καί θαλάσσης κρατεῖν δυνάμενον.
And he filled the city with joy and sacrifices, and the people with pride, as being able to rule over every land and sea.

Notes

  1. 14.2καίπερ ἀπόρους καί ἀμηχάνους τῆς φυγῆς ὁδοὺς καί πλάνας ἐχούσης — A genitive absolute construction introduced by the concessive conjunction καίπερ. The noun τῆς φυγῆς serves as the subject of the participle ἐχούσης, which takes the accusative phrase ἀπόρους καί ἀμηχάνους ... ὁδοὺς καί πλάνας as its object.
  2. 14.2ἑλῶν βαθέων καί πετρῶν ἀποτόμων τὰ πτώματα καί τὰς ὀλισθήσεις ὑποδεχομένων — A genitive absolute construction where the genitive phrase ἑλῶν βαθέων καί πετρῶν ἀποτόμων ("deep marshes and steep cliffs") functions as the subject, and the genitive plural present participle ὑποδεχομένων acts as the predicate.
  3. 14.3παραστῆναι — The second aorist active infinitive of παρίστημι, used intransitively to mean "to occur to one's mind" or "to present itself." It governs the dative τοῖς ἰδοῦσιν ("to those who saw") and is followed by the accusative and infinitive clause (μηδὲν ὀφείλειν...) which defines the thought that occurred to them.
  4. 14.4πεμπταῖος — An adjective derived from the ordinal number "five," in the nominative case agreeing with the subject of the verb ἀφίκετο (Cato). In Greek, adjectives expressing time or duration are commonly used predicatively to indicate "on the N-th day."

Cite this passage

Plutarch, Life of Cato the Elder §14.1-14.4. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0007.tlg025.humanitext-grc2:14.1-14.4

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