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Polybius · The Histories §5.97.1-5.97.6

Capture of Bylazora and Failed Night Assault on Meliteia

Passage 461 of 1311 · Greek

Summary

King Philip secures Macedonia by occupying the strategic city of Bylazora in Paeonia, and subsequently attempts a night assault on Meliteia, which fails because the scaling-ladders are too short.

§5.97.1κατὰ δὲ τοὺς αὐτοὺς καιροὺς Φίλιππος ὁ βασιλεὺς κατελάβετο Βυλάζωρα, μεγίστην οὖσαν πόλιν τῆς Παιονίας καὶ λίαν εὐκαίρως κειμένην πρὸς τὰς εἰσβολὰς τὰς ἀπὸ τῆς Δαρδανικῆς εἰς Μακεδονίαν, ὥστε διὰ τῆς πράξεως ταύτης σχεδὸν ἀπολελύσθαι τοῦ φόβου τοῦ κατὰ Δαρδανίους· §5.97.2οὐ γὰρ ἔτι ῥᾴδιον ἦν αὐτοῖς ἐμβαλεῖν εἰς Μακεδονίαν κρατοῦντος Φιλίππου τῶν εἰσόδων διὰ τῆς προειρημένης πόλεως. §5.97.3ἀσφαλισάμενος δὲ ταύτην Χρυσόγονον μὲν ἐξαπέστειλε κατὰ σπουδὴν ἐπισυνάξοντα τοὺς ἄνω Μακεδόνας, §5.97.4αὐτὸς δὲ παραλαβὼν τοὺς ἐκ τῆς Βοττίας καὶ τῆς Ἀμφαξίτιδος ἧκεν ἔχων εἰς Ἔδεσσαν.
Around the same time, King Philip occupied Bylazora, which was the largest city of Paeonia and situated very advantageously with respect to the passes from the Dardanian territory into Macedonia, so that by this action he was almost entirely freed from the fear of the Dardanians. For it was no longer easy for them to invade Macedonia, since Philip was in control of the entrances through the aforementioned city. Having secured this city, he sent off Chrysogonus in haste to collect the upper Macedonians, while he himself, taking with him those from Bottia and Amphaxitis, arrived in Edessa.
προσδεξάμενος δʼ ἐνταῦθα τοὺς μετὰ Χρυσογόνου Μακεδόνας ἐξώρμησε μετὰ πάσης τῆς δυνάμεως, καὶ παρῆν ἑκταῖος εἰς Λάρισαν. §5.97.5κατὰ δὲ τὸ συνεχὲς ἐνεργῷ νυκτοπορίᾳ χρησάμενος ὑπὸ τὴν ἑωθινὴν ἧκε πρὸς Μελίτειαν, καὶ προσθεὶς τὰς κλιμακίδας τοῖς τείχεσι κατεπείραζε τῆς πόλεως. §5.97.6τῷ μὲν οὖν αἰφνιδίῳ καὶ παραδόξῳ κατεπλήξατο τοὺς Μελιταιεῖς, ὥστε ῥᾳδίως ἂν κρατῆσαι τῆς πόλεως· τῷ δὲ παρὰ πολὺ γενέσθαι τὰς κλίμακας ἐλάττους τῆς χρείας διεψεύσθη τῆς
Having awaited there the Macedonians with Chrysogonus, he set out with his entire force and arrived at Larissa on the sixth day. Making a continuous and energetic night-march, he arrived before Meliteia towards dawn, and having placed his scaling-ladders against the walls, he attempted to take the city. Now, by the sudden and unexpected nature of his attack, he so terrified the Meliteians that he would easily have captured the city; but because the ladders turned out to be far too short for their purpose, he was cheated of his...

Notes

  1. 5.97.1ὥστε ... ἀπολελύσθαι — Result clause with ὥστε and infinitive, representing the logical consequence of the main verb κατελάβετο or the overall situation. The implicit subject of the infinitive is King Philip or the Macedonians in general.
  2. 5.97.2κρατοῦντος Φιλίππου τῶν εἰσόδων — Genitive absolute construction. It functions circumstantially to express the reason (since Philip was in control of the entrances) for the situation described in the main clause.
  3. 5.97.3ἐπισυνάξοντα — Future participle expressing purpose (in order to collect), modifying the main verb ἐξαπέστειλε (sent off).
  4. 5.97.4ἑκταῖος — An adjective agreeing in gender, number, and case with the subject (Philip), functioning adverbially to indicate time ('on the sixth day'), a common idiom in Classical Greek.
  5. 5.97.6ὥστε ῥᾳδίως ἂν κρατῆσαι — Construction of ὥστε with ἄν and the infinitive, expressing a past unreal consequence ('that he would easily have captured'). It corresponds to a past indicative with ἄν transferred into the infinitive in a result clause.
  6. 5.97.6διεψεύσθη τῆς — The sentence breaks off abruptly after the article τῆς. It is generally understood that a feminine singular genitive noun such as ἐλπίδος (hope) or πράξεως (undertaking) has been omitted or lost in the manuscript transmission.

Cite this passage

Polybius, The Histories §5.97.1-5.97.6. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0543.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:5.97.1-5.97.6

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