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Polybius · The Histories §27.19.1-27.19.2

Antiochus IV Sends an Embassy to Rome

Passage 1091 of 1311 · Greek

Summary

Antiochus IV, seeing the Ptolemaic preparations for war over Coele-Syria, sent an embassy under Meleager to Rome. He instructed them to protest to the senate that Ptolemy was the aggressor.

§27.19.1ὅτι Ἀντίοχος ὁρῶν ἐκφανῶς ἤδη τοὺς κατὰ τὴν Ἀλεξάνδρειαν παρασκευαζομένους εἰς τὸν περὶ Κοίλης Συρίας πόλεμον, εἰς μὲν τὴν Ῥώμην ἔπεμψε πρεσβευτὰς τοὺς περὶ Μελέαγρον, §27.19.2ἐντειλάμενος λέγειν τῇ συγκλήτῳ καὶ διαμαρτύρασθαι διότι παρὰ πάντα τὰ δίκαια Πτολεμαῖος αὐτῷ τὰς χεῖρας ἐπιβάλλει πρότερος —
That Antiochus, seeing that those in Alexandria were already openly preparing for the war over Coele-Syria, sent Meleager and his colleagues as ambassadors to Rome, with instructions to tell the senate and protest that Ptolemy, in defiance of all justice, was the first to lay hands on him —

Notes

  1. §27.19.1τοὺς περὶ Μελέαγρον — An idiomatic expression meaning "Meleager and his associates." Here it refers to the embassy headed by Meleager.
  2. §27.19.2πρότερος — Although a nominative adjective agreeing with the subject Ptolemy, it functions adverbially to modify the verb, meaning "first" or "prior."

Cite this passage

Polybius, The Histories §27.19.1-27.19.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0543.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:27.19.1-27.19.2

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