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Polybius · The Histories §30.30.1-30.30.8

Envoys Accuse Eumenes and the Roman Senate Reacts

Passage 1172 of 1311 · Greek

Summary

Various embassies arrive in Rome to accuse King Eumenes, and the Senate suspends its judgment while harboring distrust. Meanwhile, Tiberius and his colleagues return from their mission without gathering new information due to the kings' lavish reception.

§30.30.1ὅτι εἰς τὴν Ῥώμην παραγεγονότων πρεσβευτῶν πλειόνων καὶ ἑτέρων, ἐπιφανεστάτων δὲ παρὰ μὲν Ῥοδίων τῶν περὶ Ἀστυμήδην, παρὰ δὲ τῶν Ἀχαιῶν τῶν περὶ Εὐρέαν καὶ Ἀναξίδαμον καὶ Σάτυρον, παρὰ δὲ Προυσίου τῶν περὶ Πύθωνα, τούτοις ἐχρημάτισεν ἡ σύγκλητος.
ὅτι When many other ambassadors had arrived in Rome, the most eminent of whom were, from the Rhodians, the party of Astymedes, from the Achaeans, the party of Eureas, Anaxidamus, and Satyros, and from Prusias, the party of Python, the Senate gave them audience.
§30.30.2οἱ μὲν οὖν παρὰ τοῦ Προυσίου κατηγορίαν ἐποιοῦντʼ Εὐμένους τοῦ βασιλέως, φάσκοντες αὑτῶν τέ τινα χωρία παραιρεῖσθαι τὸν Εὐμένη καὶ τῆς Γαλατίας οὐκ ἀφίστασθαι τὸ παράπαν οὐδὲ πειθαρχεῖν τοῖς τῆς συγκλήτου δόγμασιν, ἀλλὰ τοὺς τὰ σφέτερα μὲν φρονοῦντας σωματοποιεῖν, §30.30.3τοὺς δὲ τὰ Ῥωμαίων αἱρουμένους καὶ βουλομένους πολιτεύεσθαι τοῖς τῆς συγκλήτου δόγμασιν ἀκολούθως κατὰ πάντα τρόπον ἐλαττοῦν.
Now, those from Prusias made accusations against King Eumenes, claiming that Eumenes was taking away some of their territories, and was not withdrawing from Galatia at all, nor obeying the decrees of the Senate, but was consolidating those who shared his views, while in every way weakening those who chose the cause of the Romans and wished to conduct public affairs in accordance with the decrees of the Senate.
§30.30.4ἦσαν δέ τινες πρεσβευταὶ καὶ παρὰ τῶν τῆς Ἀσίας πόλεων, οἳ κατηγόρουν τοῦ βασιλέως, ἔμφασιν ποιοῦντες τῆς πρὸς τὸν Ἀντίοχον κοινοπραγίας.
There were also some ambassadors from the cities of Asia, who accused the king, making clear his cooperation with Antiochus.
§30.30.5ἡ δὲ σύγκλητος διακούσασα τῶν κατηγορούντων οὔτʼ ἀπέρριπτε τὰς διαβολὰς οὔτʼ ἐξέφαινε τὴν ἑαυτῆς γνώμην, ἀλλὰ συνετήρει παρʼ ἑαυτῇ, διαπιστοῦσα καθόλου τοῖς περὶ τὸν Εὐμένη καὶ τὸν Ἀντίοχον· §30.30.6τοῖς γε μὴν Γαλάταις ἀεί τι προσετίθει καὶ συνεπίσχυε περὶ τῆς ἐλευθερίας.
The Senate, having heard the accusers, neither rejected the charges nor revealed its own opinion, but kept it to itself, completely distrusting the party of Eumenes and Antiochus; yet to the Galatians they always added something and joined in supporting them concerning their freedom.
§30.30.7οἱ δὲ περὶ τὸν Τεβέριον ἥκοντες ἀπὸ τῆς πρεσβείας οὐδὲν περιττότερον ἠδυνήθησαν οὔτʼ αὐτοὶ διαλαβεῖν οὔτε τῇ συγκλήτῳ διασαφῆσαι περὶ τῶν κατὰ τὸν Εὐμένη καὶ τὸν Ἀντίοχον, ἤπερ ἃ καὶ πρότερον ὄντες ἐν τῇ Ῥώμῃ διελάμβανον.
And Tiberius and his colleagues, having returned from their embassy, were able neither to grasp for themselves nor to clarify to the Senate anything more regarding the affairs of Eumenes and Antiochus than what they had already grasped before when they were in Rome.
§30.30.8οὕτως αὐτοὺς οἱ βασιλεῖς ἐξετέμοντο τῇ κατὰ τὴν ἀπάντησιν φιλανθρωπίᾳ.
Thus the kings had emasculated them by the friendliness of their reception.

Notes

  1. §30.30.1παραγεγονότων πρεσβευτῶν — A genitive absolute construction, indicating the temporal and background circumstance for the main verb ἐχρημάτισεν (which takes the dative complement τούτοις).
  2. §30.30.2φάσκοντες — A participle introducing indirect speech, governing the accusative and infinitive structures (παραιρεῖσθαι ... ἀφίστασθαι ... πειθαρχεῖν ... σωματοποιεῖν ... ἐλαττοῦν), where the subject of the infinitives is τὸν Εὐμένη.
  3. §30.30.7οἱ δὲ περὶ τὸν Τεβέριον — The idiomatic expression "preposition περί + accusative", referring not just to Tiberius Gracchus individually but to "Tiberius and his colleagues (the embassy)".
  4. §30.30.8ἐξετέμοντο — A figurative use (in the middle voice) of the verb ἐκτέμνω (to castrate, cut out), meaning to emasculate or render the embassy's investigative power ineffective.

Cite this passage

Polybius, The Histories §30.30.1-30.30.8. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0543.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:30.30.1-30.30.8

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