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Polybius · The Histories §33.9.1-33.9.8

Attack on Flaminius and the Dispatch of Opimius

Passage 1231 of 1311 · Greek

Summary

The Roman legate Flaminius, sent to aid Massalia, was attacked and wounded by the Oxybii, a Ligurian tribe. In response, the Senate immediately dispatched the consul Quintus Opimius with an army.

§33.9.1ὅτι τῶν Μασσαλιητῶν διαπρεσβευσαμένων πρὸς Ῥωμαίους κακῶς πάσχειν αὑτοὺς ὑπὸ τῶν Λιγυστίνων, παραχρῆμα κατέστησαν Φλαμίνιον καὶ Ποπίλιον Λαινᾶτον καὶ Λεύκιον Πόπιον πρεσβευτάς.
That when the Massaliotes sent legates to the Romans to complain that they were suffering ill-treatment at the hands of the Ligurians, they immediately appointed Flaminius, Popilius Laenas, and Lucius Popius as legates.
§33.9.2οἳ καὶ πλέοντες μετὰ τῶν Μασσαλιητῶν προσέσχον τῆς Ὀξυβίων χώρας κατὰ πόλιν Αἴγιτναν.
These, sailing together with the Massaliotes, touched at the territory of the Oxybii near the town of Aegitna.
§33.9.3οἱ δὲ Λιγυστῖνοι προακηκοότες ὅτι πάρεισιν ἐπιτάξοντες αὐτοῖς λύειν τὴν πολιορκίαν, τοὺς μὲν ἄλλους ἔτι καθορμιζομένους ἐπελθόντες ἐκώλυσαν τῆς ἀποβάσεως, §33.9.4τὸν δὲ Φλαμίνιον καταλαβόντες ἀποβεβηκότα καὶ τὰς ἀποσκευὰς ἀποτεθειμένον, τὰς μὲν ἀρχὰς ἐκέλευον αὐτὸν ἐκ τῆς χώρας ἀπολύεσθαι, τοῦ δὲ παρακούοντος ἤρξαντο τὰ σκεύη διαρπάζειν.
But the Ligurians, having heard beforehand that they had come to order them to raise the siege, fell upon the others while they were still coming to anchor and prevented them from landing; and finding Flaminius already disembarked and his baggage put on shore, they at first ordered him to depart from the country, but when he paid no attention, they began to plunder his baggage.
§33.9.5τῶν δὲ παίδων καὶ τῶν ἀπελευθέρων ἀντιποιουμένων καὶ κωλυόντων, ἀπεβιάζοντο καὶ προσέφερον τούτοις τὰς χεῖρας.
When his servants and freedmen resisted and tried to prevent them, they used force and laid hands on them.
§33.9.6ἐν ᾧ καιρῷ καὶ τοῦ Φλαμινίου βοηθοῦντος τοῖς ἰδίοις, τοῦτον μὲν κατέτρωσαν, δύο δὲ τῶν οἰκετῶν κατέβαλον, τοὺς δὲ λοιποὺς κατεδίωξαν εἰς τὴν ναῦν, ὡς τὸν Φλαμίνιον μόγις ἀποκόψαντα τἀπίγυα καὶ τὰς ἀγκύρας διαφυγεῖν τὸν κίνδυνον.
At which time, as Flaminius also came to the aid of his own men, they wounded him, struck down two of his servants, and pursued the rest to the ship, with the result that Flaminius, by barely cutting the stern-cables and anchors, escaped the danger.
§33.9.7οὗτος μὲν ἀποκομισθεὶς εἰς Μασσαλίαν ἐθεραπεύετο μετὰ πάσης ἐπιμελείας· §33.9.8ἡ δὲ σύγκλητος πυθομένη τὰ γεγονότα παραχρῆμα τὸν ἕνα τῶν ὑπάτων Κόιντον Ὀπίμιον ἐξαπέστελλε μετὰ δυνάμεως πολεμήσοντα τοῖς Ὀξυβίοις καὶ Δεκιήταις.
He was conveyed to Massalia and there cared for with all possible attention; while the Senate, on hearing of these events, immediately dispatched one of the consuls, Quintus Opimius, with a force to make war upon the Oxybii and Decietae.

Notes

  1. §33.9.1ὅτι — The particle ὅτι at the beginning of this chapter was added by later epitomizers to introduce summarized sections, and does not syntactically govern the main verb (here κατέστησαν).
  2. §33.9.2προσέσχον τῆς Ὀξυβίων χώρας — The verb προσέχω (meaning 'to bring a ship to land, touch at') usually takes a dative or a prepositional phrase, but here it governs the genitive (τῆς Ὀξυβίων χώρας), functioning either as a partitive genitive ('landed on a part of the territory of the Oxybii') or a genitive of place.
  3. §33.9.6ὡς τὸν Φλαμίνιον μόγις ἀποκόψαντα τἀπίγυα καὶ τὰς ἀγκύρας διαφυγεῖν τὸν κίνδυνον — The conjunction ὡς with an accusative (τὸν Φλαμίνιον) and infinitive (διαφυγεῖν) introduces a clause of actual result ('with the result that...'), functioning like the standard ὥστε with the infinitive. The participle ἀποκόψαντα agrees in the accusative with Φλαμίνιον, the subject of the infinitive.

Cite this passage

Polybius, The Histories §33.9.1-33.9.8. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0543.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:33.9.1-33.9.8

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