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Polybius · The Histories §4.25.1-4.25.8

Allied Council at Corinth and Declaration of War

Passage 302 of 1311 · Greek

Summary

Philip convenes an allied council in Corinth, where the allies present their grievances against the Aetolians, leading to a unanimous decision to declare war and a decree outlining the restoration of allied territories, ancestral constitutions, and the control of the Amphictyonic temple.

§4.25.1καταλαβὼν δὲ τοὺς ἀπὸ τῶν συμμαχίδων παραγεγονότας εἰς τὴν Κόρινθον, συνήδρευε καὶ διελάμβανε μετὰ τούτων τί δεῖ ποιεῖν καὶ πῶς χρήσασθαι τοῖς Αἰτωλοῖς.
Having met those who had arrived at Corinth from the allied states, he held a council and deliberated with them as to what ought to be done and how to deal with the Aetolians.
§4.25.2ἐγκαλούντων δὲ Βοιωτῶν μὲν ὅτι συλήσαιεν τὸ τῆς Ἀθηνᾶς τῆς Ἰτωνίας ἱερὸν εἰρήνης ὑπαρχούσης, Φωκέων δὲ διότι στρατεύσαντες ἐπʼ Ἄμβρυσον καὶ Δαύλιον ἐπιβάλοιντο καταλαβέσθαι τὰς πόλεις, §4.25.3Ἠπειρωτῶν δὲ καθότι πορθήσαιεν αὐτῶν τὴν χώραν, Ἀκαρνάνων δὲ παραδεικνυόντων τίνα τρόπον συστησάμενοι πρᾶξιν ἐπὶ Θύριον νυκτὸς ἔτι καὶ προσβαλεῖν τολμήσαιεν τῇ πόλει, §4.25.4πρὸς δὲ τούτοις Ἀχαιῶν ἀπολογιζομένων ὡς καταλάβοιντο μὲν τῆς Μεγαλοπολίτιδος Κλάριον, πορθήσαιεν δὲ διεξιόντες τὴν Πατρέων καὶ Φαραιέων χώραν, διαρπάσαιεν δὲ Κύναιθαν, συλήσαιεν δὲ τὸ τῆς ἐν Λούσοις Ἀρτέμιδος ἱερόν, πολιορκήσαιεν δὲ Κλειτορίους, ἐπιβουλεύσαιεν δὲ κατὰ μὲν θάλατταν Πύλῳ, κατὰ δὲ γῆν ἄρτι συνοικιζομένῃ τῇ Μεγαλοπολιτῶν πόλει σπεύδοντες μετὰ τῶν Ἰλλυριῶν ἀνάστατον αὐτὴν ποιῆσαι, §4.25.5διακούσαντες τούτων οἱ τῶν συμμάχων σύνεδροι πάντες ὁμοθυμαδὸν ἐκφέρειν ἐβουλεύσαντο τοῖς Αἰτωλοῖς τὸν πόλεμον.
As the Boeotians charged that, although peace existed, the Aetolians had plundered the temple of Itonian Athena, and the Phocians that they had marched against Ambryssus and Daulion and attempted to seize these cities; and as the Epirotes pointed out how they had ravaged their country, and the Acarnanians demonstrated in what manner they had formed a plot against Thyrium and dared to attack the city while it was still night; and in addition to these, as the Achaeans set forth how they had seized Clarium in the territory of Megalopolis, ravaged the country of Patrae and Pharae as they passed through, plundered Cynaetha, despoiled the temple of Artemis at Lusi, besieged the Cleitorians, and plotted by sea against Pylos, and by land against the city of Megalopolis which was just then being resettled, hastening with the Illyrians to lay it waste; the councilors of the allies, having heard all these complaints, unanimously resolved to declare war against the Aetolians.
§4.25.6προθέμενοι δὲ τὰς προειρημένας αἰτίας ἐν τῷ δόγματι παρακατεβάλοντο ψήφισμα, προσδιασαφοῦντες ὅτι συνανασώσουσι τοῖς συμμάχοις, εἴ τινα κατέχουσιν αὐτῶν Αἰτωλοὶ χώραν ἢ πόλιν ἀφʼ οὗ Δημήτριος ὁ Φιλίππου κατὰ φύσιν πατὴρ μετήλλαξε· §4.25.7παραπλησίως δὲ καὶ τοὺς ὑπὸ τῶν καιρῶν ἠναγκασμένους ἀκουσίως μετέχειν τῆς Αἰτωλῶν συμπολιτείας, ὅτι πάντας τούτους ἀποκαταστήσουσιν εἰς τὰ πάτρια πολιτεύματα, χώραν ἔχοντας καὶ πόλεις τὰς αὑτῶν, ἀφρουρήτους, ἀφορολογήτους, ἐλευθέρους ὄντας, πολιτείαις καὶ νόμοις χρωμένους τοῖς πατρίοις.
Having set forth the aforementioned charges in the decree, they passed a resolution, further declaring that they would recover together with the allies whatever territory or city of theirs the Aetolians had held since Demetrius, the natural father of Philip, had passed away; likewise also concerning those who had been forced by circumstances to join the Aetolian league against their will, that they would restore all of them to their ancestral constitutions, so that they should have their own territory and cities, free, ungarrisoned, untaxed, and enjoying their ancestral constitutions and laws.
§4.25.8συνανακομιεῖσθαι δὲ καὶ τοῖς Ἀμφικτύοσιν ἔγραψαν τοὺς νόμους καὶ τὴν περὶ τὸ ἱερὸν ἐξουσίαν, ἣν Αἰτωλοὶ παρῄρηνται νῦν, βουλόμενοι τῶν κατὰ τὸ ἱερὸν ἐπικρατεῖν αὐτοί.
They also wrote in the decree that they would recover, together with the Amphictyons, the laws and the authority over the temple which the Aetolians had now usurped, wishing to dominate the affairs of the temple themselves.

Notes

  1. 4.25.2ἐγκαλούντων δὲ Βοιωτῶν μὲν — The series of genitive absolutes starting with 'ἐγκαλούντων δὲ Βοιωτῶν μὲν' in §4.25.2 and continuing through §4.25.4 (Φωκέων δὲ..., Ἠπειρωτῶν δὲ..., Ἀκαρνάνων δὲ..., Ἀχαιῶν ἀπολογιζομένων...) sets out the grievances that serve as the background and cause for the main action in §4.25.5, where the nominative participle 'διακούσαντες τούτων' (having heard these things) introduces the main verb 'ἐβουλεύσαντο'.
  2. 4.25.2συλήσαιεν — The optatives in the subordinate clauses (e.g., 'συλήσαιεν', 'ἐπιβάλοιντο') are oblique optatives used in indirect discourse (oratio obliqua) following a secondary main verb, representing the allegations or reports made by the various allies.
  3. 4.25.7τοὺς ὑπὸ τῶν καιρῶν ἠναγκασμένους — The accusative phrase 'τοὺς ... ἠναγκασμένους' is placed at the beginning of the sentence as a prolepsis (anticipation) of the logical object of the subsequent 'ὅτι' clause. Since the demonstrative pronoun 'πάντας τούτους' is repeated inside the clause as the direct object of 'ἀποκαταστήσουσιν', it results in a grammatical anacoluthon.

Cite this passage

Polybius, The Histories §4.25.1-4.25.8. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0543.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:4.25.1-4.25.8

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