Polybius · The Histories §19.2.1

The Achaeans' Ransom of Roman Captives

Passage 947 of 1311 · Greek

Summary

The immense number of Punic War captives sold into slavery is evidenced by Polybius's record that ransoming them at five hundred denarii per head cost the Achaeans one hundred talents.

§19.2.1ινγενς νυμερυς ερατ βελλο πυνιξο ξαπτορυμ, θυος ηαννιβαλ, ξυμ αβ συις νον ρεδιμερεντυρ, ϝενυμ δεδερατ.

There was a huge number of those captured in the Punic War, whom Hannibal had sold into slavery because they were not ransomed by their own people.

μυλτιτυδινις εορυμ αργυμεντυμ εστ, θυοδ πολψβιυς σξριβιτ ξεντυμ ταλεντις εαμ ρεμ αξηαεις στετισσε, ξυμ θυινγενος δεναριος πρετιυμ ιν ξαπιτα, θυοδ ρεδδερετυρ δομινις, στατυισσεντ.

The proof of their multitude is what Polybius writes: that this matter cost the Achaeans one hundred talents, when they had fixed the price per head to be paid to their owners at five hundred denarii.

Notes

19.2.1ϝενυμ δεδερατ — Greek transliteration of the Latin pluperfect venum dederat, from the idiom venum dare ('to sell', 'to sell into slavery'). Venum is an accusative of direction/purpose related to veneo ('to be sold').
19.2.1ξεντυμ ταλεντις εαμ ρεμ αξηαεις στετισσε — Transliteration of the Latin centum talentis eam rem achaeis stetisse. The verb stare combined with a dative (person) and an ablative (price) means 'to cost (someone) (an amount)'. Here, eam rem is the accusative subject of the infinitive stetisse, achaeis is the dative, and centum talentis is the ablative of price.
19.2.1θυινγενος δεναριος — Transliteration of the Latin quingenos denarios. The distributive numeral quingeni ('five hundred each') is used in coordination with in capita ('per head') to indicate the individual price of five hundred denarii set for each ransomed captive.

Cite this passage

Polybius, The Histories §19.2.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0543.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:19.2.1

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.