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Diodorus Siculus · Bibliotheca Historica §16.64.1-16.64.3

Divine Punishment of the Sacrilegious and Philip's Hegemony

Passage 572 of 723 · Greek

Summary

The narrative details the divine punishments meted out to the individuals and cities that shared in the sacrilege, as well as the tragic fates of the wives of Phocian leaders who wore the Delphic necklaces, while highlighting Philip's rise to the hegemony of Greece for aiding the oracle, concluding the account of the Sacred War.

§16.64.1οἱ μὲν οὖν τῆς ἱεροσυλίας μετασχόντες τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον ὑπὸ τοῦ δαιμονίου τιμωρίας ἠξιώθησαν.
Thus, those who had shared in the sacrilege were deemed worthy of punishment by the divine power in this manner.
αἱ δʼ ἐπισημόταται πόλεις κοινωνήσασαι τῆς παρανομίας ὕστερον ὑπʼ Ἀντιπάτρου καταπολεμηθεῖσαι τὴν ἡγεμονίαν ἅμα καὶ τὴν ἐλευθερίαν ἀπέβαλον.
And the most illustrious cities which had participated in the lawlessness, having later been defeated in war by Antipater, lost their hegemony and their freedom at the same time.
§16.64.2αἱ δὲ τῶν ἐν Φωκεῦσιν ἡγεμόνων γυναῖκες περιθέμεναι τοὺς χρυσοῦς ἐκ Δελφῶν ὅρμους οἰκείας τῆς ἀσεβείας τιμωρίας ἔτυχον· ἡ μὲν γὰρ τὸν τῆς Ἑλένης γεγενημένον φορέσασα εἰς ἑταιρικὴν αἰσχύνην ἐνέπεσε καὶ τὸ κάλλος προέβαλε τοῖς ἐξυβρίζειν προαιρουμένοις, ἡ δὲ τὸν τῆς Ἐριφύλης περιθεμένη τῆς οἰκίας ὑπὸ τοῦ πρεσβυτάτου τῶν υἱῶν ὑπὸ μανίας ἐμπυρισθείσης μετὰ ταύτης ζῶσα κατεφλέχθη.
As for the wives of the leaders among the Phocians who had put on the golden necklaces from Delphi, they met with a punishment appropriate to their impiety; for the one who wore the necklace that had belonged to Helen fell into the shameful life of a courtesan and prostituted her beauty to those who chose to insult her, while the other who put on the necklace of Eriphyle, when her house was set on fire by the eldest of her sons in a fit of madness, was burned to death alive along with it.
οἱ μὲν οὖν τοῦ δαιμονίου καταφρονεῖν τολμήσαντες τὸν εἰρημένον τρόπον ὑπὸ τῶν θεῶν τιμωρίας ἠξιώθησαν,
Thus, those who dared to look down upon the divine power were deemed worthy of punishment by the gods in the manner described.
§16.64.3ὁ δὲ τῷ μαντείῳ βοηθήσας Φίλιππος ἀπὸ τούτων τῶν χρόνων ἀεὶ μᾶλλον αὐξόμενος τὸ τελευταῖον διὰ τὴν εἰς τὸ θεῖον εὐσέβειαν ἡγεμὼν ἀπεδείχθη τῆς Ἑλλάδος πάσης καὶ μεγίστην βασιλείαν τῶν κατὰ τὴν Εὐρώπην περιεποιήσατο.
On the other hand, Philip, who had aided the oracle, continually growing in power from this time onward, was at last, because of his piety toward the divine, appointed leader of all Greece and acquired the greatest kingdom in Europe.
ἡμεῖς δὲ ἀρκούντως διεληλυθότες τὸν ἱερὸν πόλεμον ἐπάνιμεν ἐπὶ τὰς ἑτερογενεῖς πράξεις.
Since we have sufficiently recounted the Sacred War, we shall return to history of a different kind.

Notes

  1. 16.64.1τιμωρίας ἠξιώθησαν — The passive of the verb ἀξιόω ('to deem worthy of') takes the genitive of punishment (τιμωρίας), meaning 'were deemed worthy of punishment' or 'were subjected to punishment.'
  2. 16.64.2οἰκείας τῆς ἀσεβείας τιμωρίας ἔτυχον — The feminine genitive singular adjective οἰκείας agrees with the noun τιμωρίας (punishment) at the end, rather than with the immediate τῆς ἀσεβείας (impiety), meaning 'a punishment appropriate to themselves.' The genitive τῆς ἀσεβείας functions as a genitive of cause or relation.
  3. 16.64.2τὸν τῆς Ἑλένης γεγενημένον — Ellipsis of the noun. After τὸν ... γεγενημένον ('the one that had belonged to Helen'), the masculine noun ὅρμος (necklace) is ellipted from the context of the preceding clause.
  4. 16.64.2τῆς οἰκίας ... ἐμπυρισθείσης — Genitive absolute. This construction contains a passive participle and expresses the cause or time ('when her house was set on fire') of the event affecting the subject of the main clause.
  5. 16.64.3ἀπὸ τούτων τῶν χρόνων ἀεὶ μᾶλλον αὐξόμενος — The present participle αὐξόμενος is used in a middle-passive sense ('growing, increasing [in power]') and modifies the main verb ἀπεδείχθη. Accompanied by ἀπὸ ... τῶν χρόνων and the adverb ἀεί, it emphasizes a continuous and progressive process of growth.

Cite this passage

Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica §16.64.1-16.64.3. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0060.tlg001.humanitext-grc4:16.64.1-16.64.3

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