Humanitext Reader

Polybius · The Histories §39.4.1-39.4.4

Refusal of Diaeus's Confiscated Property

Passage 1307 of 1311 · Greek

Summary

After establishing order in Achaea, the ten commissioners offer Polybius a free choice of Diaeus's confiscated property, which he refuses while advising his friends to avoid purchasing any of it.

§39.4.1ὅτι μετὰ τὴν κατάστασιν τῶν δέκα, ἣν ἐποιήσαντο ἐν τῇ Ἀχαΐᾳ, οὗτοι οἱ δέκα τῷ ταμίᾳ τῷ μέλλοντι πωλεῖν τὴν οὐσίαν τοῦ Διαίου συνέταξαν, ὅ,τι ποτʼ ἂν ἐκλέξασθαι βουληθῇ τῶν ὑπαρχόντων ὁ Πολύβιος, ὑφελόντα καὶ δόντα δωρεάν, τἄλλα πωλεῖν τοῖς ὠνουμένοις.
After the settlement of the ten commissioners, which they established in Achaea, these ten commanded the quaestor who was about to sell the property of Diaeus that, whatever Polybius might wish to choose out of the goods, he should set it aside and give it to him as a free gift, and sell the rest to the purchasers.
§39.4.2ὁ δὲ προειρημένος τοσοῦτον ἀπέσχε τοῦ προσδέξασθαί τι τῶν τοιούτων ὡς καὶ τοὺς φίλους παρεκάλεσε καθόλου μηθενὸς ἐπιθυμῆσαι τῶν ὑπὸ τοῦ ταμίου πωλουμένων.
But the aforementioned man was so far from accepting any of such things that he even exhorted his friends not to covet at all anything of those being sold by the quaestor.
§39.4.3συνέβαινε γὰρ τοῦτον ἐπιπορευόμενον τὰς πόλεις πάντων τῶν τῷ Διαίῳ κοινωνησάντων πωλεῖν τὰς οὐσίας, τῶν καὶ κατακριθέντων, ὅσοι μὴ παῖδας ἢ γονέας εἶχον.
For it happened that this officer, going around the cities, was selling the properties of all those who had associated with Diaeus—namely, of those who had been condemned, as many as did not have children or parents.
§39.4.4ὧν τινὲς μὲν οὐ προσέσχον, οἱ δὲ κατακολουθήσαντες τῇ συμβουλίᾳ καλλίστην δόξαν ἐξηνέγκαντο παρὰ τοῖς πολίταις.
Of these friends, some indeed paid no attention, but those who followed his advice won the highest reputation among their fellow citizens.

Notes

  1. 39.4.1ὑφελόντα καὶ δόντα — Although the main verb συνέταξαν governs the dative (τῷ ταμίᾳ), the participles ὑφελόντα and δόντα, which function as the subject of the infinitive πωλεῖν, are in the accusative. This is a common syntactic assimilation in Classical Greek, where elements belonging to the subject of an infinitive are attracted into the accusative according to the regular accusative with infinitive construction.
  2. 39.4.2τοσοῦτον ἀπέσχε ... ὡς καὶ — A correlative result clause introduced by τοσοῦτον and ὡς, meaning "he was so far from ... that he even ...". The verb ἀπέχω governs the genitive infinitive (τοῦ προσδέξασθαι) in the sense of "abstain or keep away from doing something."
  3. 39.4.3συνέβαινε ... πωλεῖν — The impersonal verb συνέβαινε takes the accusative with infinitive construction (with the accusative τοῦτον, referring to the quaestor, and the infinitive πωλεῖν) as its subject. The imperfect tense describes an objective and ongoing state of affairs during the post-war settlements.

Cite this passage

Polybius, The Histories §39.4.1-39.4.4. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0543.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:39.4.1-39.4.4

Please note the AI-draft status of the translation and the date accessed.

Translation, notes and summary are AI-generated drafts, revised through reader feedback.