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Polybius · The Histories §15.19.1-15.19.9

Hannibal Urging Carthage to Accept the Peace Terms

Passage 827 of 1311 · Greek

Summary

When a Carthaginian senator attempted to oppose Scipio's peace terms, Hannibal dragged him from the platform and, apologizing for his breach of custom, urged the assembly to accept the generous terms of peace.

§15.19.1ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ὁ στρατηγὸς εἶπε τῶν Ῥωμαίων τοῖς πρεσβευταῖς· οἱ δʼ ἀκούσαντες ἠπείγοντο καὶ διεσάφουν τοῖς ἐν τῇ πατρίδι.
These then were the words of the Roman general to the ambassadors; and they, having heard them, made haste and made them known to those in their native city.
§15.19.2καθʼ ὃν δὴ καιρὸν λέγεται, μέλλοντός τινος τῶν ἐκ τῆς γερουσίας ἀντιλέγειν τοῖς προτεινομένοις καὶ καταρχομένου, προελθόντα τὸν Ἀννίβαν κατασπάσαι τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἀπὸ τοῦ βήματος.
At which very time, it is said, when one of the members of the senate was about to speak against the proposals and was beginning to do so, Hannibal came forward and dragged the man down from the platform.
§15.19.3τῶν δὲ λοιπῶν ἐξοργισθέντων διὰ τὸ παρὰ τὴν συνήθειαν αὐτὸν τοῦτο πρᾶξαι, πάλιν τὸν Ἀννίβαν ἀναστάντα φασὶν ἀγνοεῖν μὲν ὁμολογῆσαι, δεῖν δὲ συγγνώμην ἔχειν, εἴ τι παρὰ τοὺς ἐθισμοὺς πράττει, γινώσκοντας ὅτι τὴν μὲν ἔξοδον ἐκ τῆς πατρίδος ἐνναέτης ὢν ποιήσαιτο, πλείω δὲ τῶν πέντε καὶ τετταράκοντʼ ἐτῶν ἔχων εἰς αὐτὴν ἐπανήκει.
And when the rest were angry because he had done this contrary to custom, they say that Hannibal stood up again and admitted that he was ignorant, but said they must pardon him if he did anything contrary to their customs, knowing that he had made his departure from his country when he was nine years old, and had returned to it when he was more than forty-five years of age.
§15.19.4διόπερ ἠξίου μὴ τοῦτο σκοπεῖν, εἴ τι παραπέπαικε τῆς συνηθείας, πολὺ δὲ μᾶλλον, εἰ τοῖς τῆς πατρίδος πράγμασιν ἀληθινῶς συμπάσχει· διὰ γὰρ ταῦτα καὶ νῦν εἰς τὴν ἀλογίαν ἐμπεπτωκένει ταύτην.
Therefore he begged them not to consider whether he had transgressed custom in any way, but much rather whether he truly sympathized with the fortunes of his country; for it was because of this that he had now fallen into this lack of reason.
§15.19.5θαυμαστὸν γὰρ αὐτῷ φανῆναι καὶ τελέως ἐξηλλαγμένον, εἴ τις ὑπάρχων Καρχηδόνιος καὶ συνειδὼς τὰ βεβουλευμένα καὶ κοινῇ τῇ πατρίδι καὶ κατʼ ἰδίαν ἑκάστοις ἡμῶν κατὰ Ῥωμαίων οὐ προσκυνεῖ τὴν τύχην, εἰ γεγονὼς ὑποχείριος τοιούτων τυγχάνει φιλανθρώπων·
For it seemed to him a strange and utterly abnormal thing, if any Carthaginian, who was aware of the designs planned both by the state in common and by each of us individually against the Romans, does not worship Fortune, seeing that, after having fallen into their hands, he meets with such generous terms.
§15.19.6οὓς εἴ τις ὀλίγαις πρότερον ἡμέραις ἤρετο πόσʼ ἐλπίζουσι πείσεσθαι τὴν πατρίδα κρατησάντων Ῥωμαίων, οὐδʼ ἂν εἰπεῖν οἷοί τʼ ἦσαν διὰ τὸ μέγεθος καὶ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῶν προφαινομένων αὐτοῖς κακῶν.
If anyone had asked them a few days before how much they expected their country would suffer if the Romans conquered, they would not even have been able to say, because of the magnitude and excess of the evils which presented themselves to them.
§15.19.7διόπερ ἠξίου καὶ νῦν μηδʼ ἐπὶ λόγον ἄγειν, ἀλλʼ ὁμοθυμαδὸν δεξαμένους τὰ προτεινόμενα θύειν τοῖς θεοῖς, καὶ πάντας εὔχεσθαι βεβαιῶσαι ταῦτα τὸν δῆμον τῶν Ῥωμαίων.
Therefore he begged them now not even to bring it to discussion, but with one mind to accept the proposals, to sacrifice to the gods, and all to pray that the Roman people might confirm these terms.
§15.19.8φανέντος δὲ φρονίμως αὐτοῦ καὶ τοῖς καιροῖς οἰκείως συμβουλεύειν, ἔδοξε ποιεῖσθαι τὰς συνθήκας ἐπὶ τοῖς προειρημένοις.
Since he appeared to advise them wisely and suitably to the circumstances, it was resolved to make the treaty on the aforesaid terms.
§15.19.9καὶ τὸ μὲν συνέδριον παραυτίκα πρεσβευτὰς ἐξέπεμπε τοὺς ἀνθομολογησομένους ὑπὲρ τούτων.
And the senate immediately sent ambassadors to agree to these terms.

Notes

  1. §15.19.2λέγεται... τὸν Ἀννίβαν κατασπάσαι — The accusative and infinitive construction τὸν Ἀννίβαν κατασπάσαι is governed by λέγεται ('it is said'). The preceding clause μέλλοντός τινος... is a genitive absolute expressing the background circumstance.
  2. §15.19.3γινώσκοντας — An accusative plural present participle. Syntactically, it modifies the implied accusative subject representing the audience, functioning as a circumstantial participle expressing a premise or concession within the indirect discourse.
  3. §15.19.5θαυμαστὸν γὰρ αὐτῷ φανῆναι... εἴ τις ... οὐ προσκυνεῖ τὴν τύχην — φανῆναι is an infinitive in indirect discourse. The conditional clause εἴ τις... οὐ προσκυνεῖ follows the adjective of emotion θαυμαστόν, representing a factual condition or the object of wonder ('if/that anyone does not worship...').
  4. §15.19.6εἴ τις ... ἤρετο ... οὐδʼ ἂν εἰπεῖν οἷοί τʼ ἦσαν — A past counterfactual conditional sentence. The protasis uses the past indicative (ἤρετο), and the apodosis uses ἄν with the imperfect indicative (ἦσαν). The infinitive εἰπεῖν depends on οἷοί τʼ ἦσαν ('they would not have been able to say').

Cite this passage

Polybius, The Histories §15.19.1-15.19.9. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0543.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:15.19.1-15.19.9

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