Humanitext Reader

Polybius · The Histories §5.95.1-5.95.12

Scerdilaidas's Treachery and Further Achaean Victories

Passage 459 of 1311 · Greek

Summary

Scerdilaidas of Illyria, dissatisfied with Philip, dispatches a fleet to plunder and capture ships, while the Achaean commanders invade Elis and rout the pursuing Eleans with an ambush, accompanied by further Achaean naval successes.

§5.95.1ἅμα δὲ τοῖς προειρημένοις Σκερδιλαΐδας, νομίζων ὑπὸ τοῦ βασιλέως ἀδικεῖσθαι διὰ τό τινα τῶν χρημάτων ἐλλείπειν αὐτῷ τῶν κατὰ τὰς συντάξεις ὁμολογηθέντων, ἃς ἐποιήσατο πρὸς Φίλιππον, ἐξαπέστειλε λέμβους πεντεκαίδεκα, μετὰ δόλου ποιούμενος τὴν ἐπιβολὴν τῆς κομιδῆς τῶν χρημάτων·
Simultaneously with the aforementioned events, Scerdilaidas, believing that he was being treated unjustly by the king because some of the funds agreed upon in the treaty he had made with Philip were missing, dispatched fifteen light vessels, making his attempt to recover the money by means of deceit.
§5.95.2οἳ καὶ κατέπλευσαν εἰς Λευκάδα, πάντων αὐτοὺς ὡς φιλίους προσδεχομένων διὰ τὴν γεγενημένην κοινοπραγίαν.
These sailed into Leucas, where everyone received them as friends because of the joint operations that had taken place.
§5.95.3ἄλλο μὲν οὖν οὐκ ἔφθασαν οὐδὲν ἐργάσασθαι κακὸν οὐδʼ ἐδυνήθησαν, Ἀγαθίνῳ δὲ καὶ Κασσάνδρῳ τοῖς Κορινθίοις ἐπιπλέουσι ταῖς Ταυρίωνος ναυσὶ καὶ συγκαθορμισθεῖσιν ὡς φίλοις μετὰ τεττάρων πλοίων, παρασπονδήσαντες ἐπέθεντο, καὶ συλλαβόντες αὐτούς τε καὶ τὰ πλοῖα πρὸς Σκερδιλαΐδαν ἀπέπεμψαν.
Now, they did not manage to do any other mischief nor were they able to, but when Agathinus and Cassander the Corinthians sailed in with four ships, using Taurion's vessels and anchoring with them as friends, they broke the treaty and attacked them, and having captured both the men and the ships, they sent them off to Scerdilaidas.
§5.95.4μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ποιησάμενοι τὴν ἀναγωγὴν ἐκ τῆς Λευκάδος καὶ πλεύσαντες ὡς ἐπὶ Μαλέας ἐλῄζοντο καὶ κατῆγον τοὺς ἐμπόρους.
After this, putting out to sea from Leucas and sailing towards Malea, they began to plunder and bring in the merchantmen.
ἤδη δὲ τοῦ θερισμοῦ συνάπτοντος, §5.95.5καὶ τῶν περὶ τὸν Ταυρίωνα κατολιγωρούντων τῆς τῶν ἄρτι ῥηθεισῶν πόλεων προφυλακῆς, Ἄρατος μὲν ἔχων τοὺς ἐπιλέκτους ἐφήδρευε τῇ τοῦ σίτου κομιδῇ περὶ τὴν Ἀργείαν,
Since the harvest was already approaching, and since Taurion and his men were neglecting the defense of the recently mentioned cities, Aratus, with his select troops, was watching over the harvesting of the grain around the Argolid.
§5.95.6Εὐριπίδας δὲ τοὺς Αἰτωλοὺς ἔχων ἐξώδευσε, βουλόμενος κατασῦραι τὴν τῶν Τριταιέων χώραν.
Meanwhile, Euripidas marched out with the Aetolians, wishing to ravage the territory of the Tritaeans.
§5.95.7οἱ δὲ περὶ Λύκον καὶ Δημόδοκον τὸν τῶν Ἀχαιῶν ἱππάρχην συνέντες τὴν ἐκ τῆς Ἤλιδος τῶν Αἰτωλῶν ἔξοδον, ἐπισυναγαγόντες τοὺς Δυμαίους καὶ τοὺς Πατρεῖς καὶ Φαραιεῖς, σὺν δὲ τούτοις ἔχοντες τοὺς μισθοφόρους, ἐνέβαλον εἰς τὴν Ἠλείαν.
Lycus and Demodocus, the commander of the Achaean cavalry, having perceived the departure of the Aetolians from Elis, collected the people of Dyme, Patrae, and Pharae, and having the mercenaries with them in addition to these, invaded Elis.
§5.95.8παραγενόμενοι δʼ ἐπὶ τὸ Φύξιον καλούμενον τοὺς μὲν εὐζώνους καὶ τοὺς ἱππεῖς ἐφῆκαν εἰς τὴν καταδρομήν, τὰ δὲ βαρέα τῶν ὅπλων ἔκρυψαν περὶ τὸν προειρημένον τόπον.
Arriving at the place called Phyxium, they sent out the light-armed troops and the cavalry to plunder, but hid the heavy-armed soldiers around the aforementioned place.
§5.95.9ἐκβοηθησάντων δὲ πανδημεὶ τῶν Ἠλείων ἐπὶ τοὺς κατατρέχοντας καὶ προσκειμένων τοῖς ἀποχωροῦσιν, ἐξαναστάντες οἱ περὶ τὸν Λύκον ἐπέθεντο τοῖς προπεπτωκόσι.
When the Eleans came out in full force to rescue against the plunderers and were pressing upon those who were retreating, Lycus and his men rose from ambush and fell upon those who had advanced.
§5.95.10τῶν δʼ Ἠλείων οὐ δεξαμένων τὴν ὁρμήν, ἀλλʼ ἐξ ἐπιφανείας τραπέντων, ἀπέκτειναν μὲν αὐτῶν εἰς διακοσίους, ζωγρίᾳ δʼ ἔλαβον ὀγδοήκοντα, συνεκόμισαν δὲ καὶ τὴν περιελαθεῖσαν λείαν ἀσφαλῶς.
Since the Eleans did not withstand the charge but turned to flight as soon as they appeared, they killed about two hundred of them, took eighty alive, and safely brought back the booty that had been driven off.
§5.95.11ἅμα δὲ τούτοις ὁ ναύαρχος τῶν Ἀχαιῶν ποιησάμενος ἀποβάσεις πλεονάκις εἴς τε τὴν Καλυδωνίαν καὶ Ναυπακτίαν τήν τε χώραν κατέσυρε καὶ τὴν βοήθειαν αὐτῶν συνέτριψε δίς.
Simultaneously with these events, the admiral of the Achaeans, making frequent landings both in Calydonia and Naupactia, ravaged the country and twice routed their rescue forces.
§5.95.12ἔλαβε δὲ καὶ Κλεόνικον τὸν Ναυπάκτιον, ὃς διὰ τὸ πρόξενος ὑπάρχειν τῶν Ἀχαιῶν παραυτὰ μὲν οὐκ ἐπράθη, μετὰ δέ τινα χρόνον ἀφείθη χωρὶς λύτρων.
He also captured Cleonicus of Naupactus, who, because he was a proxenos of the Achaeans, was not sold at once, but after some time was released without ransom.

Notes

  1. 5.95.1διὰ τό τινα τῶν χρημάτων ἐλλείπειν αὐτῷ — An articular infinitive construction (τό + infinitive) introduced by the preposition διὰ. The indefinite pronoun τινα (accusative) serves as the subject of the intransitive infinitive ἐλλείπειν (to be missing/lacking), meaning 'because of some of the money being missing for him'.
  2. 5.95.3οὐκ ἔφθασαν οὐδὲν ἐργάσασθαι κακὸν — The verb φθάνω combined with an infinitive, expressing the idea of doing something beforehand or managing to do something. Here, with the negation οὐκ, it means they did not succeed in or manage to commit any other mischief.
  3. 5.95.5τῶν περὶ τὸν Ταυρίωνα κατολιγωρούντων — A genitive absolute construction. The present participle κατολιγωρούντων (genitive plural masculine) has its logical subject in the phrase τῶν περὶ τὸν Ταυρίωνα ('those around Taurion', i.e., Taurion and his men), which is independent of the main subject Aratus.
  4. 5.95.9τοῖς προπεπτωκόσι — The perfect participle προπεπτωκόσι (dative plural masculine, from προπίπτω, 'to fall forward, rush ahead') serves as the dative object of the verb ἐπέθεντο (attacked). It refers to the enemy soldiers who had advanced too far ahead or rushed forward in pursuit.

Cite this passage

Polybius, The Histories §5.95.1-5.95.12. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0543.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:5.95.1-5.95.12

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.