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Diodorus Siculus · Bibliotheca Historica §17.109.1-17.109.3

Exiles' Decree and the Mutiny and Reconciliation at Opis

Passage 714 of 723 · Greek

Summary

Alexander proclaimed the return of exiles and retired the oldest soldiers while paying off their debts; when the remaining Macedonian troops protested, he punished the ringleaders and promoted Persians, eventually forcing the Macedonians to repent and seek reconciliation.

§17.109.1ὁ δὲ Ἀλέξανδρος τῶν Ὀλυμπίων ὄντων ἐκήρυξεν ἐν Ὀλυμπίᾳ τοὺς φυγάδας πάντας εἰς τὰς πατρίδας κατιέναι πλὴν τῶν ἱεροσύλων καὶ φονέων.
Alexander, while the Olympic games were being held, proclaimed at Olympia that all the exiles should return to their homelands, except for temple-robbers and murderers.
αὐτὸς δʼ ἐπιλέξας τοὺς πρεσβυτάτους τῶν πολιτῶν ἀπέλυσε τῆς στρατείας, ὄντας ὡς μυρίους.
And he himself, having selected the oldest of the citizens, released them from military service, they being about ten thousand.
§17.109.2πυνθανόμενος δὲ πολλοὺς αὐτῶν εἶναι καταδανείους ἐν ἡμέρᾳ μιᾷ τὰ δάνεια βραχὺ λείποντα τῶν μυρίων ταλάντων διέλυσεν.
And learning that many of them were heavily in debt, in a single day he discharged their debts, which fell slightly short of ten thousand talents.
τῶν δʼ ἀπολειπομένων Μακεδόνων ἀπειθούντων καὶ κατὰ τὴν ἐκκλησίαν καταβοώντων παροξυνθεὶς κατηγόρησεν αὐτῶν τεθαρρηκότως.
But when the remaining Macedonians refused to obey and cried out in the assembly, he was provoked and accused them boldly.
καταπληξάμενος δὲ τὸ πλῆθος ἐτόλμησεν αὐτὸς καταβὰς ἀπὸ τοῦ βήματος τοὺς αἰτιωτάτους τῆς ταραχῆς ταῖς ἰδίαις χερσὶ παραδοῦναι τοῖς ὑπηρέταις πρὸς τὴν τιμωρίαν.
Having overawed the multitude, he dared to go down from the speaker's platform himself and with his own hands deliver the chief authors of the disturbance to the attendants for punishment.
§17.109.3ἐπὶ πολὺ δὲ τῆς διαφορᾶς αὐξανομένης ὁ μὲν βασιλεὺς ἐκ τῶν ἐκλελεγμένων Περσῶν ἡγεμόνας κατέστησε καὶ τούτους προῆγεν ἐπὶ τὸ πρωτεῖον· οἱ δὲ Μακεδόνες μετανοήσαντες καὶ πολλὰ μετὰ δακρύων δεηθέντες μόγις ἔπεισαν τὸν Ἀλέξανδρον αὐτοῖς διαλλαγῆναι.
As the disagreement increased greatly, the king, on the one hand, appointed commanders from the selected Persians and promoted them to the primary rank; on the other hand, the Macedonians, having repented and made many entreaties with tears, with difficulty persuaded Alexander to be reconciled with them.

Notes

  1. §17.109.1τῶν Ὀλυμπίων ὄντων — Genitive absolute construction consisting of the noun τὰ Ὀλύμπια (the Olympic games) and the present participle ὄντων (from εἰμί), meaning "while the Olympic games were being held."
  2. §17.109.1ὄντας ὡς μυρίους — Present participle in the accusative plural qualifying the direct object τοὺς πρεσβυτάτους of the main verb ἀπέλυσε. Accompanied by the adverb ὡς (about), it functions as an appositive or supplementary modifier: "they being about ten thousand."
  3. §17.109.2βραχὺ λείποντα τῶν μυρίων ταλάντων — The present participle λείποντα (falling short of) modifies the preceding noun τὰ δάνεια (debts). It takes the genitive of comparison τῶν μυρίων ταλάντων to express the standard being compared, meaning "falling slightly short of ten thousand talents."
  4. §17.109.2τῶν δʼ ἀπολειπομένων Μακεδόνων ἀπειθούντων καὶ κατὰ τὴν ἐκκλησίαν καταβοώντων — A lengthy genitive absolute construction expressing the cause or background for the main verb κατηγόρησεν. The logical subject is τῶν ἀπολειπομένων Μακεδόνων (the remaining Macedonians), which is modified by the two participles ἀπειθούντων and καταβοώντων.
  5. §17.109.3ἐπὶ πολὺ δὲ τῆς διαφορᾶς αὐξανομένης — Genitive absolute construction where τῆς διαφορᾶς is the logical subject and αὐξανομένης is the present participle. The prepositional phrase ἐπὶ πολύ functions adverbially to indicate degree ("to a great extent"), modifying the participle.

Cite this passage

Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica §17.109.1-17.109.3. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0060.tlg001.humanitext-grc4:17.109.1-17.109.3

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