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Polybius · The Histories §12.4b.1-12.4b.3

Criticism of Timaeus on the Roman Horse Sacrifice

Passage 738 of 1311 · Greek

Summary

Polybius criticizes Timaeus's childish interpretation of the Roman ritual of sacrificing a horse as a memorial of the Trojan Horse, arguing against it by pointing out similar customs among other barbarians.

§12.4b.1καὶ μὴν ἐν τοῖς περὶ Πύρρου πάλιν φησὶ τοὺς Ῥωμαίους ἔτι νῦν ὑπόμνημα ποιουμένους τῆς κατὰ τὸ Ἴλιον ἀπωλείας ἐν ἡμέρᾳ τινὶ κατακοντίζειν ἵππον πολεμιστὴν πρὸ τῆς πόλεως ἐν τῷ Κάμπῳ καλουμένῳ, διὰ τὸ τῆς Τροίας τὴν ἅλωσιν διὰ τὸν ἵππον γενέσθαι τὸν δούριον προσαγορευόμενον, πρᾶγμα πάντων παιδαριωδέστατον·
Moreover, in his history of Pyrrhus, he says again that the Romans, even now keeping a memorial of the destruction at Ilium, on a certain day shoot with javelins a war-horse before the city in the place called the Campus, because the capture of Troy came about through the horse called the wooden horse—a claim most childish of all.
§12.4b.2οὕτω μὲν γὰρ δεήσει πάντας τοὺς βαρβάρους λέγειν Τρώων ἀπογόνους ὑπάρχειν· §12.4b.3σχεδὸν γὰρ πάντες, εἰ δὲ μή γʼ, οἱ πλείους, ὅταν ἢ πολεμεῖν μέλλωσιν ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἢ διακινδυνεύειν πρός τινας ὁλοσχερῶς, ἵππον προθύονται καὶ σφαγιάζονται, σημειούμενοι τὸ μέλλον
For on this principle, it will be necessary to say that all barbarians are descendants of the Trojans; since almost all, or if not all, at least the majority of them, when they are about either to begin a war or to risk a decisive battle against someone, sacrifice a horse beforehand and slaughter it, taking omens for the future.

Notes

  1. §12.4b.1πρᾶγμα πάντων παιδαριωδέστατον — Accusative in apposition to the preceding clause or statement, serving as Polybius's own critical parenthetical comment on Timaeus's assertion.
  2. §12.4b.1διὰ τὸ τῆς Τροίας τὴν ἅλωσιν διὰ τὸν ἵππον γενέσθαι τὸν δούριον προσαγορευόμενον — Preposition διὰ with the accusative of the articular infinitive (τὸ γενέσθαι) expressing cause. The subject of the infinitive is in the accusative (τὴν ἅλωσιν), within which another prepositional phrase expressing means (διὰ τὸν ἵππον...) is embedded.
  3. §12.4b.2οὕτω μὲν γὰρ δεήσει — The adverb οὕτω (thus, on this principle) implies a conditional protasis ("if this were so"). The future of the impersonal verb δεῖ (δεήσει) functions as the main verb of the apodosis.

Cite this passage

Polybius, The Histories §12.4b.1-12.4b.3. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0543.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:12.4b.1-12.4b.3

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