Humanitext Reader

Polybius · The Histories §26.1a.1-26.1a.2

Eccentricities of Antiochus IV and the Moniker Epimanes

Passage 1071 of 1311 · Greek

Summary

Polybius explains why Antiochus IV was called 'Epimanes' (the Mad) instead of 'Epiphanes' (the Illustrious), citing his bizarre behaviors such as carousing with commoners, crashing young people's parties, and wearing a Roman toga in public.

§26.1a.1Πολύβιος δʼ ἐν τῇ ἕκτῃ καὶ εἰκοστῇ τῶν Ἱστοριῶν καλεῖ αὐτὸν Ἐπιμανῆ καὶ οὐκ Ἐπιφανῆ διὰ τὰς πράξεις.
Polybius, in the twenty-sixth book of his Histories, calls him Epimanes and not Epiphanes because of his conduct.
οὐ μόνον γὰρ μετὰ δημοτῶν ἀνθρώπων κατέβαινεν εἰς ὁμιλίας, ἀλλὰ καὶ μετὰ τῶν παρεπιδημούντων ξένων καὶ τῶν εὐτελεστάτων συνέπινεν.
For he not only condescended to converse with common people, but also drank with foreign residents and the lowest of the low.
§26.1a.2εἰ δὲ καὶ τῶν νεωτέρων, φησίν, αἴσθοιτο τινας συνευωχουμένους ὁπουδήποτε, παρῆν μετὰ κερατίου καὶ συμφωνίας, ὥστε τοὺς πολλοὺς διὰ τὸ παράδοξον ἀνισταμένους φεύγειν.
And if, he says, he should perceive any of the younger men feasting together anywhere, he would appear with a horn and a band of music, so that most of them, arising because of the unexpectedness of it, fled.
πολλάκις δὲ καὶ τὴν βασιλικὴν ἐσθῆτα ἀποβαλὼν τήβενναν ἀναλαβὼν περιῄει τὴν ἀγοράν. —
Often, too, casting off his royal robe and putting on a toga, he would go about the marketplace.

Notes

  1. §26.1a.1Ἐπιμανῆ καὶ οὐκ Ἐπιφανῆ — A pun playing on the king's official epithet 'Epiphanes' (God Manifest) and 'Epimanes' (the Mad), mocking his eccentric behavior.
  2. §26.1a.2εἰ δὲ καὶ ... αἴσθοιτο ... παρῆν — A conditional construction expressing past general repetition. The condition clause (protasis) uses the optative (αἴσθοιτο), and the main clause (apodosis) uses the imperfect indicative (παρῆν).
  3. §26.1a.2τήβενναν — The Greek transliteration of the Latin 'toga'. It illustrates Antiochus IV's eccentric Romanizing tendencies, as he walked around the Greek marketplace wearing the clothing of a Roman citizen instead of royal robes.

Cite this passage

Polybius, The Histories §26.1a.1-26.1a.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0543.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:26.1a.1-26.1a.2

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.