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Polybius · The Histories §22.5.1-22.5.10

Roman Arbitration and the Dispute Between Lycia and Rhodes

Passage 1014 of 1311 · Greek

Summary

After the Roman commissioners made an ambiguous decision to satisfy both the Rhodians and the Ilians, a serious conflict arose between the Lycians and the Rhodians over the status of Lycia and Caria.

§22.5.1ὅτι ἐγένετο Λυκίοις διαφορὰ πρὸς Ῥοδίους διὰ τοιαύτας αἰτίας.
A dispute arose between the Lycians and the Rhodians for the following reasons.
§22.5.2καθʼ οὓς καιροὺς οἱ δέκα διῴκουν τὰ περὶ τὴν Ἀσίαν, τότε παρεγενήθησαν πρέσβεις, παρὰ μὲν Ῥοδίων Θεαίδητος καὶ Φιλόφρων, ἀξιοῦντες αὑτοῖς δοθῆναι τὰ κατὰ Λυκίαν καὶ Καρίαν χάριν τῆς εὐνοίας καὶ προθυμίας, ἣν παρέσχηνται σφίσι κατὰ τὸν Ἀντιοχικὸν πόλεμον· §22.5.3παρὰ δὲ τῶν Ἰλιέων ἧκον Ἵππαρχος καὶ Σάτυρος, ἀξιοῦντες διὰ τὴν πρὸς αὑτοὺς οἰκειότητα συγγνώμην δοθῆναι Λυκίοις τῶν ἡμαρτημένων.
At the time when the ten commissioners were regulating the affairs of Asia, ambassadors arrived; on the part of the Rhodians, Theaidetus and Philophron, requesting that the districts of Lycia and Caria should be given to them in return for the goodwill and zeal which they had displayed towards them during the war against Antiochus; and on the part of the Ilians came Hipparchus and Satyrus, requesting that, on account of their relationship with them, pardon should be granted to the Lycians for their errors.
§22.5.4ὧν οἱ δέκα διακούσαντες ἐπειράθησαν ἑκατέρων στοχάσασθαι κατὰ τὸ δυνατόν.
The ten commissioners, having heard both parties, endeavored to satisfy both as far as possible.
διὰ μὲν γὰρ τοὺς Ἰλιεῖς οὐθὲν ἐβουλεύσαντο περὶ αὐτῶν ἀνήκεστον, τοῖς δὲ Ῥοδίοις χαριζόμενοι προσένειμαν ἐν δωρεᾷ τοὺς Λυκίους.
For, on account of the Ilians, they resolved nothing irretrievable concerning them, but to gratify the Rhodians they assigned the Lycians to them as a gift.
§22.5.5ἐκ ταύτης τῆς διαλήψεως ἐγενήθη στάσις καὶ διαφορὰ τοῖς Λυκίοις πρὸς αὐτοὺς τοὺς Ῥοδίους οὐκ εὐκαταφρόνητος.
From this difference of interpretation there arose no negligible discord and dispute between the Lycians and the Rhodians themselves.
§22.5.6οἱ μὲν γὰρ Ἰλιεῖς ἐπιπορευόμενοι τὰς πόλεις αὐτῶν ἀπήγγελλον ὅτι παρῄτηνται τὴν ὀργὴν τῶν Ῥωμαίων καὶ παραίτιοι γεγόνασιν αὐτοῖς τῆς ἐλευθερίας· §22.5.7οἱ δὲ περὶ τὸν Θεαίδητον ἐποιήσαντο τὴν ἀγγελίαν ἐν τῇ πατρίδι, φάσκοντες Λυκίαν καὶ Καρίας τὰ μέχρι τοῦ Μαιάνδρου δεδόσθαι Ῥοδίοις ὑπὸ Ῥωμαίων ἐν δωρεᾷ.
For the Ilians, going round their cities, announced that they had deprecated the wrath of the Romans and had been the instruments of their freedom; while Theaidetus and his colleagues made their report in their native city, asserting that Lycia and the parts of Caria as far as the Maeander had been given to the Rhodians by the Romans as a gift.
§22.5.8λοιπὸν οἱ μὲν Λύκιοι πρεσβεύοντες ἧκον εἰς τὴν Ῥόδον ὑπὲρ συμμαχίας, οἱ δὲ Ῥόδιοι προχειρισάμενοί τινας τῶν πολιτῶν ἐξαπέστελλον τοὺς διατάξοντας ταῖς κατὰ Λυκίαν καὶ Καρίαν πόλεσιν ὡς ἕκαστα δεῖ γενέσθαι.
Consequently, the Lycians came on an embassy to Rhodes to treat for an alliance, while the Rhodians, having selected some of their citizens, sent them out to regulate how everything should be ordered in the cities of Lycia and Caria.
§22.5.9μεγάλης δʼ οὔσης τῆς παραλλαγῆς περὶ τὰς ἑκατέρων ὑπολήψεις, ἕως μέν τινος οὐ πᾶσιν ἔκδηλος ἦν ἡ διαφορὰ τῶν προειρημένων· §22.5.10ὡς δʼ εἰσελθόντες εἰς τὴν ἐκκλησίαν οἱ Λύκιοι διελέγοντο περὶ συμμαχίας, καὶ μετὰ τούτους Ποθίων ὁ πρύτανις τῶν Ῥοδίων ἀναστὰς ἐφώτισε τὴν ἑκατέρων αἵρεσιν καὶ προσεπετίμησε τοῖς Λυκίοις πᾶν γὰρ ὑπομένειν ἔφασαν μᾶλλον ἢ ποιήσειν Ῥοδίοις τὸ προσταττόμενον.
Though there was a great divergence between the assumptions of both sides, for a certain time the difference between the aforementioned parties was not manifest to all; but when the Lycians, having entered the assembly, were speaking about an alliance, and after them Pothion, the prytanis of the Rhodians, rose and made clear the attitude of each party and rebuked the Lycians; for they declared that they would endure anything rather than do what was commanded by the Rhodians.

Notes

  1. 22.5.2σφίσι — The indirect reflexive pronoun `σφίσι` (third-person plural) refers to the Romans (represented by the ten commissioners `οἱ δέκα` in the main clause), whom the Rhodians had assisted during the war.
  2. 22.5.4στοχάσασθαι — Used intransitively with a genitive object (`ἑκατέρων`) in the sense of 'to aim at' or 'to satisfy the wishes of'. It indicates that the commissioners tried to satisfy both parties (Rhodians and Ilians) as far as possible despite their conflicting demands.
  3. 22.5.5διαλήψεως — Refers to the 'difference of interpretation' or 'misunderstanding' resulting from the ambiguous decision of the ten commissioners, which the Lycians interpreted as a grant of freedom and the Rhodians as a gift of territory.
  4. 22.5.8τοὺς διατάξοντας — A future active participle with the article, expressing purpose (equivalent to a relative clause of purpose). It agrees with the implied object of `ἐξαπέστελλον` (some of the citizens), indicating they were sent 'to regulate' the cities.

Cite this passage

Polybius, The Histories §22.5.1-22.5.10. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0543.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:22.5.1-22.5.10

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