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Plutarch · Life of Flamininus §11.1-11.4

Rejoicing of the Greeks and Praise for Roman Liberation

Passage 11 of 21 · Greek

Summary

Titus narrowly escapes the enthusiastic crowd, and that night the Greeks celebrate their bloodless liberation. They contrast the destructive civil wars led by their own past leaders with the miraculous and just intervention of the Roman foreigners.

§11.1ὁ δʼ οὖν Τίτος, εἰ μὴ τάχιστα τῆς θέας διαλυθείσης ὑπιδόμενος τὴν φορὰν τοῦ πλήθους καὶ τὸν δρόμον ἐξέκλινεν, οὐκ ἂν ἐδόκει περιγενέσθαι τοσούτων ὁμοῦ καὶ πάντοθεν αὐτῷ περιχεομένων.
If Titus, then, when the spectacle was dissolved, had not very quickly suspected the rush of the multitude and avoided their path, he would not, it seemed, have survived, so many people pouring around him at once and from all sides.
ὡς δʼ ἀπέκαμον περὶ τὴν σκηνὴν αὐτοῦ βοῶντες ἤδη νυκτὸς οὔσης, αὖθις οὕστινας ἴδοιεν ἢ φίλους ἢ πολίτας ἀσπαζόμενοι καὶ περιπλεκόμενοι, πρὸς δεῖπνα καὶ πότους ἐτρέποντο μετʼ ἀλλήλων.
But when they grew tired of shouting around his tent, it being already night, they turned to dinners and drinking-parties with one another, welcoming and embracing whichever of their friends or fellow citizens they saw.
§11.2ἐν ᾧ καὶ μᾶλλον, ὡς εἰκὸς, ἡδομένοις ἐπῄει λογίζεσθαι καὶ διαλέγεσθαι περὶ τῆς Ἑλλάδος, ὅσους πολεμήσασα πολέμους διὰ τὴν ἐλευθερίαν οὔπω τύχοι βεβαιότερον οὐδὲ ἥδιον αὐτῆς, ἑτέρων προαγωνισαμένων ὀλίγου δεῖν ἀναίμακτος αὐτὴ καὶ ἀπενθὴς φερομένη τὸ κάλλιστον καὶ περιμαχητότατον ἆθλον.
On this occasion, as was natural, it occurred still more to them in their joy to reflect and converse about Greece: how many wars she had waged for her freedom, yet had never obtained it more securely or more delightfully than now; for, with others having fought in her defense, she herself, almost bloodless and free from mourning, was carrying off the most beautiful and hard-fought prize.
ἦν δʼ ἄρα σπάνιον μὲν ἀνδρεία καὶ φρόνησις ἐν ἀνθρώποις, σπανιώτατον δὲ τῶν ἄλλων ἀγαθῶν ὁ δίκαιος.
And indeed, courage and wisdom were rare among men, but rarest of all other blessings was the just man.
§11.3οἱ γὰρ Ἀγησίλαοι καὶ Λύσανδροι καὶ οἱ Νικίαι καὶ οἱ Ἀλκιβιάδαι πολέμους μὲν εὖ διέπειν καὶ μάχας νικᾶν κατά τε γῆν καὶ θάλασσαν ἄρχοντες ἠπίσταντο, χρῆσθαι δὲ πρὸς χάριν εὐγενῆ καὶ τὸ καλὸν οἷς κατώρθουν οὐκ ἔγνωσαν, ἀλλʼ εἰ τὸ Μαραθώνιόν τις ἔργον ἀφέλοι καὶ τὴν ἐν Σαλαμῖνι ναυμαχίαν καὶ Πλαταιὰς καὶ Θερμοπύλας καὶ τὰ πρὸς Εὐρυμέδοντι καὶ τὰ περὶ Κύπρον Κίμωνος ἔργα, πάσας τὰς μάχας ἡ Ἑλλὰς ἐπὶ δουλείᾳ μεμάχηται πρὸς αὑτήν, καὶ πᾶν τρόπαιον αὐτῆς συμφορὰ καὶ ὄνειδος ἐπʼ αὐτὴν ἕστηκε, τὰ πλεῖστα κακίᾳ καὶ φιλονεικίᾳ τῶν ἡγουμένων περιτραπείσης.
For the Agesilauses, Lysanders, Niciases, and Alcibiadeses knew well how to manage wars and win battles by both land and sea when in command, but they did not know how to use their successes for noble favor and moral beauty; rather, if one were to take away the deed at Marathon, the sea-fight at Salamis, Plataea, Thermopylae, and the achievements of Cimon at the Eurymedon and about Cyprus, Greece has fought all her other battles against herself for her own enslavement, and every trophy of hers stands as a calamity and a reproach against herself, she having been ruined for the most part by the wickedness and love of contention of her leaders.
§11.4ἀλλόφυλοι δὲ ἄνδρες, ἐναύσματα μικρὰ καὶ γλίσχρα κοινωνήματα παλαιοῦ γένους ἔχειν δοκοῦντες, ἀφʼ ὧν καὶ λόγῳ τι καὶ γνώμῃ τῶν χρησίμων ὑπάρξαι τῇ Ἑλλάδι θαυμαστὸν ἦν, οὗτοι τοῖς μεγίστοις κινδύνοις καὶ πόνοις ἐξελόμενοι τὴν Ἑλλάδα δεσποτῶν χαλεπῶν καὶ τυράννων ἐλευθεροῦσι.
But men of another race, who seemed to possess only small sparks and slender shares of connection with the ancient stock, from whom it would have been a wonder if even some small benefit in word or thought had accrued to Greece, these very men, delivering Greece through the greatest dangers and labors, free her from harsh masters and tyrants.

Notes

  1. 11.1οὐκ ἂν ἐδόκει περιγενέσθαι — A conclusion of a past contrary-to-fact condition, consisting of the imperfect ἐδόκει with the particle ἄν, followed by the infinitive περιγενέσθαι (to survive, get through). It means 'it would not have seemed that he would survive,' indicating the physical danger of Titus being crushed to death by the enthusiastic crowd if he had not avoided them.
  2. 11.2ἑτέρων προαγωνισαμένων — A genitive absolute construction. It explains the cause or circumstance under which others (namely, the Romans) 'had fought in advance' or 'had fought on behalf of' Greece, which is distinct from the main subject of the clause, ἡ Ἑλλὰς.
  3. 11.3οἷς κατώρθουν — Omission of the antecedent and case attraction of the relative pronoun. The underlying structure is τούτοις ἃ κατώρθουν (those things in which they succeeded), but the antecedent is omitted and the relative pronoun ἅ is attracted to the dative case (οἷς) governed by the main verb χρῆσθαι.
  4. 11.4ἀφʼ ὧν — The neuter plural relative pronoun ὧν refers back to the 'small sparks and slender shares of connection' (ἐναύσματα... κοινωνήματα) in the preceding clause. Together with the preposition ἀπό, it forms an adverbial phrase meaning 'from which circumstances,' carrying a concessive nuance that even a small benefit from such weak connections would have been surprising.

Cite this passage

Plutarch, Life of Flamininus §11.1-11.4. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0007.tlg028.humanitext-grc2:11.1-11.4

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