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Polybius · The Histories §10.7.1-10.7.7

Scipio's Rational Calculations and Reconnaissance

Passage 653 of 1311 · Greek

Summary

It is explained that Publius's confidence in the war against the Carthaginians even in his youth was based on careful information-gathering and rational calculation. Upon arriving in Iberia, he learns that the three Carthaginian armies are located far apart and begins planning his strategy to avoid a combined confrontation.

§10.7.1ἔτι μὲν γὰρ ἀπὸ τῆς ἀρχῆς ἱστορῶν ἐν τῇ Ῥώμῃ καὶ πυνθανόμενος ἐπιμελῶς τήν τε προδοσίαν τῶν Κελτιβήρων καὶ τὸν διαζευγμὸν τῶν ἰδίων στρατοπέδων, καὶ συλλογιζόμενος ὅτι παρὰ τοῦτο συμβαίνει τοῖς περὶ τὸν πατέρα γενέσθαι τὴν περιπέτειαν, §10.7.2οὐ κατεπέπληκτο τοὺς Καρχηδονίους οὐδʼ ἥττητο τῇ ψυχῇ, καθάπερ οἱ πολλοί.
For having already from the very beginning, while still in Rome, made inquiries and asked diligently about both the treachery of the Celtiberians and the separation of their own armies, and having calculated that it was because of this that the disaster had befallen his father and his men, he was not terrified by the Carthaginians, nor was he defeated in spirit, as the majority were.
§10.7.3μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τοὺς ἐντὸς Ἴβηρος ποταμοῦ συμμάχους ἀκούων μένειν ἐν τῇ πρὸς αὐτοὺς φιλίᾳ, τοὺς δὲ τῶν Καρχηδονίων ἡγεμόνας στασιάζειν μὲν πρὸς σφᾶς, ὑβρίζειν δὲ τοὺς ὑποταττομένους, εὐθαρσῶς διέκειτο πρὸς τὴν ἔξοδον, οὐ τῇ τύχῃ πιστεύων, ἀλλὰ τοῖς συλλογισμοῖς.
After this, hearing that the allies on this side of the Ebro River remained in friendship with them, and that the Carthaginian leaders were at variance with one another and treated their subjects insultingly, he was in high spirits for the expedition, trusting not to fortune but to his calculations.
§10.7.4παραγενόμενός γε μὴν εἰς τὴν Ἰβηρίαν, πάντας ἀνακινῶν καὶ παρʼ ἑκάστου πυνθανόμενος τὰ περὶ τοὺς ἐναντίους, ηὕρισκε τὰς μὲν δυνάμεις τῶν Καρχηδονίων εἰς τρία μέρη διῃρημένας· §10.7.5ὧν Μάγωνα μὲν ἐπυνθάνετο διατρίβειν ἐντὸς Ἡρακλείων στηλῶν ἐν τοῖς Κονίοις προσαγορευομένοις, Ἀσδρούβαν δὲ τὸν Γέσκωνος περὶ Τάγου ποταμοῦ στόμα κατὰ τὴν Λυσιτανήν, τὸν δʼ ἕτερον Ἀσδρούβαν πολιορκεῖν τινα πόλιν ἐν τοῖς Καρπητανοῖς, οὐδένα δὲ τῶν προειρημένων ἐλάττω δέχʼ ἡμερῶν ὁδὸν ἀπέχειν τῆς Καινῆς πόλεως.
When, however, he arrived in Iberia, stirring up everyone and inquiring from each about the situation of the enemy, he found that the forces of the Carthaginians were divided into three parts; of these, he learned that Mago was staying within the Pillars of Hercules among the people called the Conii, while Hasdrubal, the son of Gesco, was near the mouth of the Tagus River in Lusitania, and the other Hasdrubal was besieging a certain city among the Carpetani, and none of the aforementioned was less than ten days' journey away from the New City.
§10.7.6νομίζων οὖν, ἐὰν μὲν εἰς μάχην συνιέναι κρίνῃ τοῖς πολεμίοις, τὸ μὲν πρὸς πάντας ἅμα κινδυνεύειν ἐπισφαλὲς εἶναι τελέως καὶ διὰ τὸ προηττῆσθαι τοὺς πρὸ αὐτοῦ καὶ διὰ τὸ πολλαπλασίους εἶναι τοὺς ὑπεναντίους, §10.7.7ἐὰν δὲ πρὸς ἕνα συμβαλεῖν σπεύδων, κἄπειτα τούτου φυγομαχήσαντος, ἐπιγενομένων δὲ τῶν ἄλλων δυνάμεων, συγκλεισθῇ που, κατάφοβος ἦν μὴ ταῖς αὐταῖς Γναΐῳ τῷ θείῳ
Believing, therefore, that if he should decide to engage the enemy in battle, to risk a conflict against all of them at once would be completely hazardous, both because of the previous defeat of his predecessors and because the enemy were many times more numerous; but if, while hastening to engage with one of them, and then, upon this one avoiding battle and the other forces coming up, he should be shut in somewhere, he was extremely afraid lest he should meet with the same disasters as his uncle Gnaeus

Notes

  1. 10.7.1παρὰ τοῦτο — The preposition παρὰ with the accusative of a demonstrative pronoun here denotes cause ("because of this"). τοῦτο refers to the preceding treachery and the separation of the armies.
  2. 10.7.3ἀκούων — The participle ἀκούων governs the following accusative and infinitive constructions: τοὺς ... συμμάχους ... μένειν and τοὺς δὲ ... ἡγεμόνας στασιάζειν μὲν ... ὑβρίζειν δὲ.
  3. 10.7.5ὧν — The genitive relative pronoun ὧν is a partitive genitive referring to the previously mentioned three divisions of the Carthaginian forces or their commanders.
  4. 10.7.7ἐὰν δὲ ... σπεύδων ... συγκλεισθῇ — Within the conditional clause, the present participle σπεύδων is associated with the subjunctive verb συγκλεισθῇ. The participle itself shares the conditional force of ἐάν, indicating a parallel progression: "if, while hastening... he should be shut in."
  5. 10.7.7ταῖς αὐταῖς ... συμφοραῖς — Although the text breaks off at Gnaeus, the syntax implies a continuation such as [ταῖς αὐταῖς ... συμφοραῖς] (with the same disasters as Gnaeus). It expresses the fear of meeting "the same" fate as his uncle Gnaeus.

Cite this passage

Polybius, The Histories §10.7.1-10.7.7. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0543.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:10.7.1-10.7.7

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