Polybius · The Histories §16.27.1-16.27.5

Roman Demands to Philip and Embassy to the East

Passage 876 of 1311 · Greek

Summary

The Roman ambassadors demand that King Philip of Macedon cease war in Greece and submit to arbitration, convey this same message to the Epirotes and other Greeks, and then set sail to reconcile Antiochus and Ptolemy.

§16.27.1ὅτι καθʼ ὃν χρόνον οἱ τῶν Ῥωμαίων πρέσβεις ἐν ταῖς Ἀθήναις ἐποιοῦντο τὴν διατριβήν, Νικάνορος τοῦ παρὰ Φιλίππου κατατρέχοντος τὴν Ἀττικὴν ἕως τῆς Ἀκαδημείας, προδιαπεμψάμενοι πρὸς αὐτὸν οἱ §16.27.2Ῥωμαῖοι κήρυκα συνέμιξαν αὐτῷ καὶ παρεκάλεσαν ἀναγγεῖλαι τῷ Φιλίππῳ διότι Ῥωμαῖοι παρακαλοῦσι τὸν βασιλέα τῶν μὲν Ἑλλήνων μηδενὶ πολεμεῖν, τῶν δὲ γεγονότων εἰς Ἄτταλον ἀδικημάτων δίκας ὑπέχειν ἐν ἴσῳ κριτηρίῳ, §16.27.3καὶ διότι πράξαντι μὲν ταῦτα τὴν εἰρήνην ἄγειν ἔξεστι πρὸς Ῥωμαίους, μὴ βουλομένῳ δὲ πείθεσθαι τἀναντία συνεξακολουθήσειν ἔφασαν.

At the time when the Roman ambassadors were staying in Athens, while Nicanor, Philip's officer, was ravaging Attica as far as the Academy, the Romans, having sent a herald in advance to him, met with him and requested him to report to Philip that the Romans demanded the king not to make war on any of the Greeks, and to submit to justice before an equal tribunal for the wrongs committed against Attalus; and that, if he did this, it was possible for him to remain at peace with the Romans, but if he was unwilling to comply, they declared that the opposite consequences would follow.

ὁ μὲν οὖν Νικάνωρ ταῦτʼ ἀκούσας ἀπηλλάγη·

So Nicanor, having heard this, departed.

§16.27.4τὸν αὐτὸν δὲ λόγον τοῦτον οἱ Ῥωμαῖοι καὶ πρὸς Ἠπειρώτας εἶπαν περὶ Φιλίππου παραπλέοντες ἐν Φοινίκῃ καὶ πρὸς Ἀμύνανδρον ἀναβάντες εἰς Ἀθαμανίαν· παραπλησίως καὶ πρὸς Αἰτωλοὺς ἐν Ναυπάκτῳ καὶ πρὸς τοὺς Ἀχαιοὺς ἐν Αἰγίῳ.

The Romans also spoke this same language concerning Philip to the Epirotes while sailing past Phoenice, and to Amynander having gone up into Athamania; and similarly to the Aetolians in Naupactus, and to the Achaeans in Aegium.

§16.27.5τότε δὲ διὰ τοῦ Νικάνορος τῷ Φιλίππῳ ταῦτα δηλώσαντες αὐτοὶ μὲν ἀπέπλευσαν ὡς Ἀντίοχον καὶ Πτολεμαῖον ἐπὶ τὰς διαλύσεις. —

So at that time, having made these things clear to Philip through Nicanor, they themselves sailed away to Antiochus and Ptolemy to effect a reconciliation. —

Notes

16.27.1Νικάνορος ... κατατρέχοντος — Genitive absolute. It describes the parallel situation where Nicanor was ravaging Attica while the Roman ambassadors were staying in Athens.
16.27.2διότι — In post-classical Greek (especially Hellenistic authors like Polybius), διότι is frequently used as a conjunction introducing indirect speech or a noun clause, equivalent to ὅτι ('that'), rather than its classical causal meaning ('because'). Here it introduces the content of the request governed by παρεκάλεσαν.
16.27.3μὴ βουλομένῳ δὲ πείθεσθαι τἀναντία συνεξακολουθήσειν ἔφασαν — The dative participle μὴ βουλομένῳ, contrasted with πράξαντι in the preceding clause, modifies an omitted dative pronoun αὐτῷ (referring to Philip) with conditional force. Meanwhile, ἔφασαν ('they said') takes the accusative τἀναντία ('the opposite things') and the future infinitive συνεξακολουθήσειν in an accusative-and-infinitive construction.
16.27.5ὡς Ἀντίοχον καὶ Πτολεμαῖον — The particle ὡς functions here as a preposition, used with accusative nouns denoting persons to mean 'to' or 'into the presence of' (equivalent to πρός or εἰς).

Cite this passage

Polybius, The Histories §16.27.1-16.27.5. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0543.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:16.27.1-16.27.5

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