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Polybius · The Histories §36.5.1-36.5.9

Mago's Speech and the Sending of Carthaginian Hostages

Passage 1268 of 1311 · Greek

Summary

Mago speaks in Carthage, arguing that once they surrendered, they had to accept whatever was commanded, leading the citizens to resolve and execute the dispatch of three hundred hostages to Lilybaeum, who are then sent to Rome.

§36.5.1ἐν δὲ τῷ καιρῷ τούτῳ φασὶ Μάγωνα τὸν Βρέττιον χρήσασθαι λόγοις ἀνδρώδεσι καὶ πραγματικοῖς.
At this juncture, they say that Mago the Bruttian used manly and practical words.
§36.5.2δύο γάρ, ὡς ἔοικε, καιροὺς ἔφασκεν εἶναι τοῦ βουλεύσασθαι περὶ σφῶν καὶ τῆς πατρίδος, ὧν τὸν μὲν ἕνα παρεῖσθαι.
For he declared, as it seems, that there had been two opportunities for deliberating about themselves and their country, of which the one had been let slip.
§36.5.3δεῖν γὰρ οὐ μὰ Δία νῦν διαπορεῖν τί διὰ τῶν ὑπάτων αὐτοῖς παραγγελθήσεται, καὶ διὰ τί περὶ πόλεως οὐδεμίαν ἐποιήσατο μνείαν ἡ σύγκλητος, ἀλλὰ καθʼ ὃν καιρὸν ἐδίδοσαν τὴν ἐπιτροπήν·
For, by Zeus, they ought not to be wondering now what would be commanded them by the consuls, and why the Senate had made no mention of the city, but at the time when they were surrendering their power of decision.
§36.5.4δόντας δὲ σαφῶς γινώσκειν διότι πᾶν τὸ παραγγελλόμενον ἐπιδεκτέον ἐστίν, ἐὰν μὴ τελέως ὑπερήφανον ᾖ καὶ παρὰ τὴν προσδοκίαν· §36.5.5εἰ δὲ μή, τότε πάλιν βουλεύεσθαι πότερα δεῖ προσδέχεσθαι τὸν πόλεμον εἰς τὴν χώραν καὶ πάσχειν ὅ, τι ποτʼ ἂν οὗτος ἐπιφέρῃ τῶν δεινῶν, ἢ κατορρωδήσαντας τὴν τῶν πολεμίων ἔφοδον ἐθελοντὴν ἀναδέχεσθαι πᾶν τὸ προσταττόμενον.
Having surrendered, they should clearly understand that every command must be accepted, unless it should be utterly arrogant and beyond all expectation; otherwise, they must then deliberate anew whether they ought to welcome war into their territory and suffer whatever horrors it might bring, or, dreading the attack of the enemy, voluntarily submit to everything prescribed.
§36.5.6πάντων δὲ διὰ τὸν ἐφεστῶτα πόλεμον καὶ διὰ τὸ τῆς προσδοκίας ἄδηλον φερομένων ἐπὶ τὸ πειθαρχεῖν τοῖς παραγγελλομένοις, ἔδοξεν πέμπειν τοὺς ὁμήρους εἰς τὸ Λιλύβαιον.
But since, owing to the impending war and the uncertainty of what was to be expected, everyone inclined toward obeying the commands, it was resolved to send the hostages to Lilybaeum.
§36.5.7καὶ παραυτίκα καταλέξαντες τριακοσίους τῶν νέων ἐξέπεμπον μετὰ μεγάλης οἰμωγῆς καὶ δακρύων, ἅτε προπεμπόντων ἕκαστον τῶν ἀναγκαίων καὶ συγγενῶν, καὶ μάλιστα τῶν γυναικῶν ἐκκαουσῶν τὴν τοιαύτην διάθεσιν.
And immediately selecting three hundred of the young men, they sent them off with great lamentation and tears, inasmuch as their relatives and kinsmen were seeing each of them off, and the women especially were inflaming this emotional state.
§36.5.8ἐπεὶ δὲ κατέπλευσαν εἰς τὸ Λιλύβαιον, οἱ μὲν ἐξ αὐτῆς παρεδόθησαν διὰ τῶν ὑπάτων Κοΐντῳ Φαβίῳ Μαξίμῳ — συνέβαινε γὰρ τοῦτον ἐπὶ τῆς Σικελίας τετάχθαι στρατηγὸν τότε — §36.5.9διʼ οὗ παρακομισθέντες ἀσφαλῶς εἰς τὴν Ῥώμην συνεκλείσθησαν ὁμοῦ πάντες εἰς τὸ τῆς ἑκκαιδεκήρους νεώριον
When they had sailed to Lilybaeum, they were immediately delivered by the consuls to Quintus Fabius Maximus—for it happened that he was appointed general over Sicily at that time— by whom they were safely conveyed to Rome and were all shut up together in the dockyard of the sixteen-banked ship.

Notes

  1. §36.5.2ὧν τὸν μὲν ἕνα παρεῖσθαι — The relative pronoun ὧν refers to the antecedent δύο καιρούς, and παρεῖσθαι (perfect passive infinitive of παρίημι) functions in the accusative with infinitive construction governed by the indirect discourse verb ἔφασκεν, with τὸν μὲν ἕνα as its subject.
  2. §36.5.4δόντας — The masculine accusative plural of the aorist active participle of δίδωμι. It refers back to the surrender of the ἐπιτροπή, and is in the accusative to agree with the unexpressed subject of the infinitive γινώσκειν (referring to the Carthaginians themselves), forming part of the accusative with infinitive construction governed by δεῖν in the preceding sentence.
  3. §36.5.7ἅτε προπεμπόντων... ἐκκαουσῶν — A genitive absolute construction introduced by the causal particle ἅτε. The two nouns τῶν ἀναγκαίων καὶ συγγενῶν ('relatives and kinsmen') and τῶν γυναικῶν ('the women') act as the subjects of the participles προπεμπόντων and ἐκκαουσῶν respectively, both in the genitive case.

Cite this passage

Polybius, The Histories §36.5.1-36.5.9. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0543.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:36.5.1-36.5.9

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