Humanitext Reader

Polybius · The Histories §18.34.1-18.34.8

Titus's Truce with Philip and Rift with the Aetolians

Passage 923 of 1311 · Greek

Summary

Titus distances himself from the Aetolians due to their greed and arrogance. When he grants a fifteen-day truce and shows friendliness towards Philip's envoys, the Aetolians suspect him of taking bribes, judging Roman behavior by their own corrupt standards.

§18.34.1καθόλου τῇ περὶ τὰ λάφυρα πλεονεξίᾳ τῶν Αἰτωλῶν εἴτʼ οὐκ ἐβούλετο Φίλιππον ἐκβαλὼν ἐκ τῆς ἀρχῆς Αἰτωλοὺς καταλιπεῖν δεσπότας τῶν Ἑλλήνων.
[This was] either owing to his general disgust at the greed of the Aetolians regarding the booty, or because he did not wish, after expelling Philip from his sovereignty, to leave the Aetolians as masters of the Greeks.
§18.34.2δυσχερῶς δʼ ἔφερε καὶ τὴν ἀλαζονείαν αὐτῶν, θεωρῶν ἀντεπιγραφομένους ἐπὶ τὸ νίκημα καὶ πληροῦντας τὴν Ἑλλάδα τῆς αὑτῶν ἀνδραγαθίας.
He was also annoyed by their boasting, seeing that they claimed the victory for themselves and filled Greece with the fame of their own valour.
§18.34.3διὸ καὶ κατά τε τὰς ἐντεύξεις ἀγερωχότερον αὐτοῖς ἀπήντα καὶ περὶ τῶν κοινῶν ἀπεσιώπα, τὰ δὲ προκείμενα συνετέλει καὶ διʼ αὑτοῦ καὶ διὰ τῶν ἰδίων φίλων.
For this reason, in their interviews he met them with greater coldness and kept silence on public matters, while carrying out the business in hand by himself and through his own friends.
§18.34.4τοιαύτης δʼ οὔσης δυσχρηστίας ἐν ἀμφοτέροις, ἧκον πρεσβευταὶ μετά τινας ἡμέρας παρὰ τοῦ Φιλίππου Δημοσθένης καὶ Κυκλιάδας καὶ Λιμναῖος.
While there was such friction between both parties, after a few days ambassadors came from Philip, namely Demosthenes, Cycliadas, and Limnaeus.
§18.34.5πρὸς οὓς κοινολογηθεὶς ὁ Τίτος ἐπὶ πλεῖον μετὰ τῶν χιλιάρχων πεντεκαιδεχημέρους ἀνοχὰς ἐποιήσατο παραχρῆμα, συνετάξατο δὲ καὶ συμπορεύεσθαι τῷ Φιλίππῳ κοινολογησόμενος ὑπὲρ τῶν καθεστώτων ἐν ταύταις.
Titus, after conferring at length with them and with his military tribunes, immediately granted a fifteen days' truce, and also agreed to meet Philip to confer on the situation during this period.
§18.34.6γενομένης δὲ ταύτης τῆς ἐντεύξεως φιλανθρώπου, διπλασίως ἐξεκάετο τὰ τῆς ὑποψίας κατὰ τοῦ Τίτου· §18.34.7ἤδη γὰρ κατὰ τὴν Ἑλλάδα τῆς δωροδοκίας ἐπιπολαζούσης καὶ τοῦ μηδένα μηδὲν δωρεὰν πράττειν, καὶ τοῦ χαρακτῆρος τούτου νομιστευομένου παρὰ τοῖς Αἰτωλοῖς, οὐκ ἐδύναντο πιστεύειν διότι χωρὶς δώρων ἡ τηλικαύτη μεταβολὴ γέγονε τοῦ Τίτου πρὸς τὸν Φίλιππον, §18.34.8οὐκ εἰδότες τὰ Ῥωμαίων ἔθη καὶ νόμιμα περὶ τοῦτο τὸ μέρος, ἀλλʼ ἐξ αὑτῶν τεκμαιρόμενοι καὶ συλλογιζόμενοι διότι τὸν μὲν Φίλιππον εἰκὸς ἦν προτείνειν πλῆθος χρημάτων διὰ τὸν καιρόν, τὸν δὲ Τίτον μὴ δύνασθαι τούτοις ἀντοφθαλμεῖν.
But when this interview turned out to be friendly, the suspicion against Titus burned twice as fiercely; for since bribery was already rife in Greece, and nobody did anything for nothing, and this character was current as a standard among the Aetolians, they could not believe that so great a change in Titus towards Philip had taken place without bribes, being ignorant of the Roman customs and principles in this regard, but judging and calculating from their own standards that it was natural for Philip to offer a large sum of money because of the occasion, and for Titus to be unable to resist it.

Notes

  1. 18.34.1εἴτʼ οὐκ ἐβούλετο — The first member of the correlative construction 'εἴτε... εἴτε...' is omitted or implied in the preceding dative phrase 'τῇ... πλεονεξίᾳ' (either because of his disgust at their greed), with 'εἴτʼ οὐκ ἐβούλετο' introducing the second alternative.
  2. 18.34.7διότι — Used not as a causal conjunction ('because'), but as a declarative conjunction introducing the object clause of 'πιστεύειν' ('that...'), which is a usage characteristic of later Greek (Koine).
  3. 18.34.8ἀντοφθαλμεῖν — Literally meaning 'to look straight in the face', here used metaphorically in the infinitive construction to mean 'to resist' or 'to withstand' the temptation or offer of money.

Cite this passage

Polybius, The Histories §18.34.1-18.34.8. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0543.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:18.34.1-18.34.8

Please note the AI-draft status of the translation and the date accessed.

Translation, notes and summary are AI-generated drafts, revised through reader feedback.