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Polybius · The Histories §3.16.1-3.16.7

Roman Plans to Secure Illyria and Demetrius's Defiance

Passage 175 of 1311 · Greek

Summary

The Roman senate, anticipating a major and prolonged war far from home, decides to secure Illyria first to protect Italy's eastern front. While Demetrius of Pharos exploits Rome's preoccupation with Galatian and Carthaginian threats to plunder Roman-allied cities, Hannibal's swift capture of Saguntum disrupts Roman calculations, bringing the war to Italy.

§3.16.1διὸ καὶ πρὸς ταύτην ἁρμοζόμενοι τὴν ὑπόθεσιν ἡ σύγκλητος ἔκρινεν ἀσφαλίσασθαι τὰ κατὰ τὴν Ἰλλυρίδα πράγματα, προορωμένη διότι μέγας ἔσται καὶ πολυχρόνιος καὶ μακρὰν ἀπὸ τῆς οἰκείας ὁ πόλεμος.
Therefore, the senate, adapting themselves to this expectation, and foreseeing that the war would be great, long-lasting, and far from their own country, decided to secure affairs in Illyria.
§3.16.2συνέβαινε γὰρ κατʼ ἐκείνους τοὺς καιροὺς Δημήτριον τὸν Φάριον, ἐπιλελησμένον μὲν τῶν προγεγονότων εἰς αὐτὸν εὐεργετημάτων ὑπὸ Ῥωμαίων, καταπεφρονηκότα δὲ πρότερον μὲν διὰ τὸν ἀπὸ Γαλατῶν τότε δὲ διὰ τὸν ἀπὸ Καρχηδονίων φόβον περιεστῶτα Ῥωμαίους, §3.16.3πάσας δʼ ἔχοντα τὰς ἐλπίδας ἐν τῇ Μακεδόνων οἰκίᾳ διὰ τὸ συμπεπολεμηκέναι καὶ μετεσχηκέναι τῶν πρὸς Κλεομένη κινδύνων Ἀντιγόνῳ, πορθεῖν μὲν καὶ καταστρέφεσθαι τὰς κατὰ τὴν Ἰλλυρίδα πόλεις τὰς ὑπὸ Ῥωμαίους ταττομένας, πεπλευκέναι δʼ ἔξω τοῦ Λίσσου παρὰ τὰς συνθήκας πεντήκοντα λέμβοις καὶ πεπορθηκέναι πολλὰς τῶν Κυκλάδων νήσων.
For it happened around those times that Demetrius of Pharos, having forgotten the past benefits conferred on him by the Romans, and having despised them, formerly because of the fear from the Gauls and then because of that from the Carthaginians which surrounded the Romans, and placing all his hopes in the house of Macedonia because he had fought alongside Antigonus and shared the dangers against Cleomenes, was plundering and subduing the cities in Illyria that were under Roman protection, and had sailed beyond Lissus contrary to the treaty with fifty lembuses and plundered many of the Cyclades islands.
§3.16.4εἰς ἃ βλέποντες Ῥωμαῖοι καὶ θεωροῦντες ἀνθοῦσαν τὴν Μακεδόνων οἰκίαν ἔσπευδον ἀσφαλίσασθαι τὰ πρὸς ἕω τῆς Ἰταλίας πεπεισμένοι καταταχήσειν διορθωσάμενοι μὲν τὴν Ἰλλυριῶν ἄγνοιαν, ἐπιτιμήσαντες δὲ καὶ κολάσαντες τὴν ἀχαριστίαν καὶ προπέτειαν τὴν Δημητρίου.
The Romans, seeing these things and observing that the house of Macedonia was flourishing, hastened to secure the eastern parts of Italy, convinced that they would anticipate the enemy by correcting the ignorance of the Illyrians and by punishing and chastising the ingratitude and rashness of Demetrius.
§3.16.5διεψεύσθησαν δὲ τοῖς λογισμοῖς· κατετάχησε γὰρ αὐτοὺς Ἀννίβας, ἐξελὼν τὴν Ζακανθαίων πόλιν.
But they were deceived in their calculations; for Hannibal anticipated them by capturing the city of the Saguntines.
§3.16.6καὶ παρὰ τοῦτο συνέβη τὸν πόλεμον οὐκ ἐν Ἰβηρίᾳ, πρὸς αὐτῇ δὲ τῇ Ῥώμῃ καὶ κατὰ πᾶσαν γενέσθαι τὴν Ἰταλίαν.
And because of this, it came about that the war took place not in Iberia, but close to Rome itself and throughout all Italy.
§3.16.7οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ τούτοις χρησάμενοι τοῖς διαλογισμοῖς Ῥωμαῖοι μὲν ὑπὸ τὴν ὡραίαν Λεύκιον τὸν Αἰμίλιον ἐξαπέστειλαν μετὰ δυνάμεως ἐπὶ τὰς κατὰ τὴν Ἰλλυρίδα πράξεις κατὰ τὸ πρῶτον ἔτος τῆς ἑκα
Nevertheless, acting upon these reflections, the Romans, just before summer, dispatched Lucius Aemilius with a force to the operations in Illyria, in the first year of the hundred...

Notes

  1. §3.16.2συνέβαινε... Δημήτριον... πορθεῖν... πεπλευκέναι... πεπορθηκέναι — This is a long accusative and infinitive construction dependent on the impersonal verb συνέβαινε, where Δημήτριον τὸν Φάριον serves as the subject accusative. The main infinitives are πορθεῖν, πεπλευκέναι, and πεπορθηκέναι. The intermediate participles ἐπιλελησμένον, καταπεφρονηκότα, and ἔχοντα all agree with and modify Δημήτριον, making the core structure: 'it happened that Demetrius was plundering, had sailed, and had plundered.'
  2. §3.16.2περιεστῶτα Ῥωμαῖους — The perfect active participle περιεστῶτα (from περιίστημι in an intransitive sense, 'standing around') here governs the accusative Ῥωμαῖους instead of the more common dative, meaning 'the fear surrounding the Romans.'
  3. §3.16.4πεπεισμένοι καταταχήσειν — The subject of the future infinitive καταταχήσειν (from καταταχέω, 'to outstrip, anticipate') is omitted because it is identical with the subject of the main clause (the Romans), who are referred to by the nominative plural participle πεπεισμένοι ('convinced'). It expresses their confidence that they would get ahead of the overall crisis.

Cite this passage

Polybius, The Histories §3.16.1-3.16.7. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0543.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:3.16.1-3.16.7

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