Humanitext Reader

Plutarch · Life of Flamininus §9.1-9.8

Dispute with the Aetolians and Peace with Philip

Passage 9 of 21 · Greek

Summary

Angered by the Aetolians' arrogance after the battle, Titus excludes them from peace negotiations and concludes a treaty with Philip, thereby preventing a dangerous combined coalition with Antiochus and Hannibal.

§9.1πρῶτον μὲν οὖν ἐγένοντο λοιδορίαι καὶ διαφοραὶ πρὸς ἀλλήλους αὐτοῖς·
First, then, mutual recriminations and differences arose among them.
ἐκ δὲ τούτων μᾶλλον ἀεὶ τὸν Τίτον ἐλύπουν ἑαυτοῖς ἀνατιθέντες τὸ νίκημα καὶ τῇ φήμῃ προκαταλαμβάνοντες τοὺς Ἕλληνας, ὥστε καὶ γράφεσθαι καὶ ᾄδεσθαι προτέρους ἐκείνους ὑπὸ ποιητῶν καὶ ἰδιωτῶν ὑμνούντων τὸ ἔργον.
As a result of these, they increasingly annoyed Titus by attributing the victory to themselves and prepossessing the Greeks with this rumor, so that they were written about and sung of first by poets and private individuals who celebrated the deed.
§9.2ὧν μάλιστα διὰ στόματος ἦν τουτὶ τὸ ἐπίγραμμα· " Ἄκλαυστοι καὶ ἄθαπτοι, ὁδοιπόρε, τῷδʼ ἐπὶ νώτῳ Θεσσαλίης τρισσαὶ κείμεθα μυριάδες, Αἰτωλῶν δμηθέντες ὑπʼ Ἄρεος ἠδὲ Λατίνων, οὓς Τίτος εὐρείης ἤγαγʼ ἀπʼ Ἰταλίης, Ἠμαθίῃ μέγα πῆμα. τὸ δὲ θρασὺ κεῖνο Φιλίππου πνεῦμα θοῶν ἐλάφων ᾤχετʼ ἐλαφρότερον. " §9.3τοῦτο ἐποίησε μὲν Ἀλκαῖος ἐφυβρίζων Φιλίππῳ καὶ τὸν ἀριθμὸν τῶν ἀποθανόντων ἐπιψευσάμενος, λεγόμενον δὲ πολλαχοῦ καὶ ὑπὸ πολλῶν μᾶλλον ἠνία τὸν Τίτον ἢ τὸν Φίλιππον.
This epigram especially was on everyone's lips: "Unwept and unburied, traveler, on this ridge of Thessaly we lie, three myriad dead, subdued by the Ares of the Aetolians and of the Latins, whom Titus led from spacious Italy, a great calamity to Emathia; while that bold spirit of Philip fled swifter than swift deer." Alcaeus indeed composed this to insult Philip, exaggerating the number of the dead, but because it was recited in many places and by many people, it annoyed Titus more than Philip.
ὁ μὲν γὰρ ἀντικωμῳδῶν τὸν Ἀλκαῖον τῷ ἐλεγείῳ παρέβαλεν " αφλοιος καὶ ἄφυλλος, ὁδοιπόρε, τῷδʼ ἐπὶ νώτῳ Ἀλκαίῳ σταυρὸς πήγνυται ἠλίβατος· " §9.4τὸν δὲ Τίτον φιλοτιμούμενον πρὸς τοὺς Ἕλληνας οὐ μετρίως παρώξυνε τὰ τοιαῦτα, διὸ καὶ τὰ ὑπόλοιπα τῶν πραγμάτων ἔπραττε καθʼ ἑαυτόν, ἐλάχιστα φροντίζων τῶν Αἰτωλῶν.
For Philip, mockingly replying to Alcaeus, countered his elegiac couplet with this: "Barkless and leafless, traveler, on this ridge a lofty cross is fixed for Alcaeus." Such things provoked Titus beyond measure, as he was ambitious for honor among the Greeks; consequently, he conducted the remaining business by himself, paying very little attention to the Aetolians.
οἱ δὲ ἤχθοντο, καὶ προσδεξαμένου λόγους αὐτοῦ καὶ πρεσβείαν ἐπὶ συμβάσεσι παρὰ τοῦ Μακεδόνος, τοῦτο ἐκεῖνοι περιϊόντες ἐπὶ τὰς ἄλλας πόλεις ἐβόων, πωλεῖσθαι τὴν εἰρήνην Φιλίππῳ, παρὸν ἐκκόψαι τὸν πόλεμον ἄρδην καὶ ἀνελεῖν ἀρχὴν ὑφʼ ἧς πρώτης ἐδουλώθη τὸ Ἑλληνικόν.
They were deeply resentful, and when he received proposals and an embassy for terms of peace from the Macedonian, they went about the other cities crying out that peace was being sold to Philip, when it was possible to extirpate the war root and branch and destroy the empire under which the Greek race had first been enslaved.
§9.5ταῦτα τῶν Αἰτωλῶν λεγόντων καὶ διαταραττόντων τοὺς συμμάχους, αὐτὸς ὁ Φίλιππος ἐλθὼν πρὸς τὰς διαλύσεις ἀνεῖλε τὴν ὑποψίαν, ἐπιτρέψας τῷ Τίτῳ καὶ Ῥωμαίοις τὰ καθʼ αὑτόν, καὶ οὕτω καταλύεται τὸν πόλεμον ὁ Τίτος·
While the Aetolians were saying these things and disturbing the allies, Philip himself, coming for the settlement, removed all suspicion by committing himself and his affairs to Titus and the Romans, and thus Titus brought the war to a close.
καὶ τὴν μὲν Μακεδονικὴν ἀπέδωκεν αὐτῷ βασιλείαν, τῆς δὲ Ἑλλάδος προσέταζεν ἀποστῆναι, χιλίοις δὲ ταλάντο ις ἐζημίωσε, τὰς δὲ ναῦς πάσας παρείλετο πλὴν δέκα, τῶν δὲ παίδων τὸν ἕτερον, Δημήτριον, ὁμηρεύσοντα λαβὼν εἰς Ῥώμην ἀπέστειλεν, ἄριστα τῷ καιρῷ χρησάμενος καὶ προλαβὼν τὸ μέλλον.
He restored to him his Macedonian kingdom, but ordered him to withdraw from Greece, fined him a thousand talents, took away all his ships except ten, and taking one of his sons, Demetrius, to serve as a hostage, sent him to Rome, making the best use of the occasion and anticipating the future.
§9.6Ἀννίβου γὰρ τοῦ Λίβυος, ἀνδρὸς ἐχθίστου τε Ῥωμαίοις καὶ φυγάδος, ἤδη τότε πρὸς Ἀντίοχον ἥκοντος τὸν βασιλέα καὶ παροξύνοντος αὐτὸν εἰς τὸ πρόσθεν προϊέναι τῇ τύχῃ τῆς δυνάμεως εὐροούσης, ἤδη καὶ καθʼ ἑαυτὸν ὑπὸ πραγμάτων μεγάλων, ἃ κατεργασάμενος μέγας ἐπωνομάσθη, πρὸς τὴν ἁπάντων ἡγεμονίαν ἀποβλέποντα, μάλιστα δὲ κατὰ Ῥωμαίων ἀνιστάμενον, §9.7εἰ μὴ τοῦτο προϊδὼν ὁ Τίτος ἐμφρόνως ἐνέδωκε πρὸς τὰς διαλύσεις, ἀλλὰ τὸν Φιλιππικὸν ὁ Ἀντιοχικὸς κατειλήφει πόλεμος ἐν τῇ Ἑλλάδι, καὶ συνέστησαν ὑπʼ αἰτιῶν ἀμφότεροι κοινῶν οἱ μέγιστοι τῶν τότε καὶ δυνατώτατοι βασιλέων ἐπὶ τὴν Ῥώμην, ἔσχεν ἂν ἀγῶνας ἐξ ὑπαρχῆς καὶ κινδύνους τῶν πρὸς Ἀννίβαν οὐκ ἐλάττους.
For Hannibal the Libyan, a man most hostile to the Romans and an exile, had already at that time come to King Antiochus and was urging him to advance further while his fortune and power were in full flow, since Antiochus was already, on his own account, because of the great deeds by which he had acquired the title of 'the Great', looking towards the hegemony of the whole world, and was especially rising up against the Romans; if Titus, foreseeingly, had not wisely yielded to the settlement, but the Syrian war under Antiochus had overtaken the Macedonian war in Greece, and the greatest and most powerful kings of that time had combined against Rome for common causes, she would have had to face struggles and dangers no less than those against Hannibal.
§9.8νῦν δὲ τῶν πολέμων μέσην κατὰ καιρὸν ἐμβαλὼν τὴν εἰρήνην ὁ Τίτος, καὶ πρὶν ἄρξασθαι τὸν μέλλοντα διακόψας τὸν παρόντα, τοῦ μὲν τὴν ἐσχάτην ἐλπίδα, τοῦ δὲ τὴν πρώτην ὑφεῖλεν.
But as it was, Titus, by opportunely inserting peace between the wars, and cutting off the present war before the future one could begin, took away the last hope of the one and the first opportunity of the other.

Notes

  1. 9.1ἑαυτοῖς ἀνατιθέντες τὸ νίκημα — The dative ἑαυτοῖς functions as a dative of interest or reference with the participle ἀνατιθέντες ("attributing the victory to themselves"), emphasizing their self-glorification in the eyes of the Greeks.
  2. 9.3λεγόμενον δὲ πολλαχοῦ καὶ ὑπὸ πολλῶν μᾶλλον ἠνία τὸν Τίτον ἢ τὸν Φίλιππον — The neuter singular participle λεγόμενον agrees with the implied pronoun τοῦτο referring to the epigram. It functions circumstantially (causal or concessive), modifying the subject of the main verb ἠνία.
  3. 9.5ἄριστα τῷ καιρῷ χρησάμενος καὶ προλαβὼν τὸ μέλλον — The two aorist participles χρησάμενος and προλαβών modify the subject Titus. The verb χράομαι takes the dative object τῷ καιρῷ ("making the best use of the opportunity"), while προλαβών governs the neuter accusative object τὸ μέλλον ("anticipating the future").
  4. 9.7εἰ μὴ τοῦτο προϊδὼν ὁ Τίτος ἐμφρόνως ἐνέδωκε πρὸς τὰς διαλύσεις, ἀλλὰ... κατειλήφει... καὶ συνέστησαν... ἔσχεν ἂν... — A past contrafactual conditional construction. The protasis contains the negative condition with εἰ μὴ ... ἐνέδωκε (aorist indicative), followed by the alternative scenario with the pluperfect/aorist indicatives (κατειλήφει... καὶ συνέστησαν), leading to the apodosis with ἄν and the aorist indicative (ἔσχεν ἂν).

Cite this passage

Plutarch, Life of Flamininus §9.1-9.8. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0007.tlg028.humanitext-grc2:9.1-9.8

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