§38.22.1ὁ δὲ Σκιπίων πόλιν ὁρῶν τότε ἄρδην τελευτῶσαν ἐς πανωλεθρίαν ἐσχάτην, λέγεται μὲν δακρῦσαι καὶ φανερὸς γενέσθαι κλαίων ὑπὲρ πολεμίων· §38.22.2ἐπὶ πολὺ δʼ ἔννους ἐφʼ ἑαυτοῦ γενόμενός τε καὶ συνιδὼν ὅτι καὶ πόλεις καὶ ἔθνη καὶ ἀρχὰς ἁπάσας δεῖ μεταβαλεῖν ὥσπερ ἀνθρώπους δαίμονα, καὶ τοῦτʼ ἔπαθε μὲν Ἴλιον, εὐτυχής ποτε πόλις, ἔπαθε δὲ ἡ Ἀσσυρίων καὶ Μήδων καὶ Περσῶν ἐπʼ ἐκείνοις ἀρχὴ μεγίστη γενομένη καὶ ἡ μάλιστα ἔναγχος ἐκλάμψασα ἡ Μακεδόνων, εἴτε ἑκών, εἴτε προφυγόντος αὐτὸν τοῦδε τοῦ ἔπους εἰπεῖν,
ἔσσεται ἦμαρ ὅταν ποτʼ ὀλώλῃ Ἴλιος ἱρὴ
καὶ Πρίαμος καὶ λαὸς ἐυμμελίω Πριάμοιο. Πολυβίου δʼ αὐτὸν ἐρομένου σὺν παρρησίᾳ· §38.22.3καὶ γὰρ ἦν αὐτοῦ καὶ διδάσκαλος· ὅ τι βούλοιτο ὁ λόγος, φασὶν οὐ φυλαξάμενον ὀνομάσαι τὴν πατρίδα σαφῶς, ὑπὲρ ἧς ἄρα ἐς τἀνθρώπεια ἀφορῶν ἐδεδίει.
And Scipio, seeing the city then utterly perishing in extreme destruction, is said to have wept and to have openly shed tears for his enemies. Remaining for a long time deep in thought by himself, and reflecting that both cities and nations and all empires must change, just as fortune changes human beings, and that Ilium, once a fortunate city, had suffered this, as had the empire of the Assyrians, Medes, and Persians, which after them became the greatest, and that of the Macedonians which had shone so brilliantly most recently, whether voluntarily or because this verse escaped him, he said: "The day shall come when sacred Ilium shall perish, and Priam, and the people of Priam of the good ashen spear." And when Polybius asked him with freedom of speech— for he was indeed his teacher—what the words meant, they say that he did not guard his speech but clearly named his own country, for which indeed, looking at human affairs, he was afraid.
καὶ τάδε μὲν Πολύβιος αὐτὸς ἀκούσας συγγράφει.
And these things Polybius himself, having heard them, records.