character, is to remember from what ancestors you are sprung; to be
on your guard against an attack from Rome; to suspect the treachery
of the Aetolians. Above all to recall the services of Antigonus: and
so once more show your loathing for dishonest men; and, rejecting the
friendship of the Aetolians, unite your hopes for the future with those
of Achaia and Macedonia. If, however, any of your own influential
citizens are intriguing against this policy, then at least remain
neutral, and do not take part in the iniquities of these Aetolians....”
* * * * *
_In the autumn of B.C. 211, Philip being in Thrace, Scopas made a
levy of Aetolians to invade Acarnania. The Acarnanians sent their
wives, children, and old men to Epirus, while the rest of them bound
themselves by a solemn execration never to rejoin their friends except
as conquerors of the invading Aetolians. Livy, 26, 25._
+40.+ When the Acarnanians heard of the intended invasion of the
Aetolians, in a tumult of despair and fury they adopted a measure of
almost frantic violence....
If any one of them survived the battle and fled from the danger, they
begged that no one should receive him in any city or give him a light
for a fire. And this they enjoined on all with a solemn execration, and
especially on the Epirotes, to the end that they should offer none of
those who fled an asylum in their territory....
* * * * *
_When Philip was informed of the invasion he advanced promptly to the
relief of Acarnania; hearing of which the Aetolians returned home._
_Livy_, l. c.
* * * * *
Zeal on the part of friends, if shown in time, is of great
service; but if it is dilatory and late, it renders the assistance
nugatory,—supposing, of course, that they wish to keep the terms of
their alliance, not merely on paper, but by actual deeds.[335]...
INVESTMENT OF ECHINUS BY PHILIP
[Sidenote: In the campaigns of Philip, during the time that Publius
Sulpicius Galba as Proconsul commanded a Roman fleet in Greek waters,
_i.e._ from B.C. 209 to B.C. 206. See Livy, 26, 22, 28; 28, 5-7; 29,
12.]
+41.+ Having determined to make his approach upon the town at the
two towers, he erected opposite to them diggers’ sheds and rams; and
opposite the space between the towers he erected a covered way between
the rams, parallel to the wall. And when the plan was complete, the
appearance of the works was very like the style of the wall. For the
super-structures on the pent-houses had the appearance and style of
towers, owing to the placing of the wattles side by side; and the space
between looked like a wall, because the row of wattles at the top of
the covered way were divided into battlements by the fashion in which
they were woven. In the lowest division of these besieging towers the
diggers employed in levelling inequalities, to allow the stands of the
battering-rams to be brought up, kept throwing on earth, and the ram
was propelled forward: in the second story were water vessels and other
appliances for quenching fires, and along with them the catapults: and
on the third a considerable body of men were placed to fight with all
who tried to damage the rams; and they were on a level with the city
towers. From the covered way between the besieging towers a double
trench was to be dug towards the wall, between the city towers. There
were also three batteries for stone-throwing machines, one of which
carried stones of a talent weight, and the other two half that weight.
From the camp to the pent-houses and diggers’ sheds underground tunnels
had been constructed, to prevent men, going to the works from the camp
or returning from the works, being wounded in any way by missiles from
the town. These works were completed in a very few days, because the
district round produced what was wanted for this service in abundance.
For Echinus is situated on the Melian Gulf, facing south, exactly
opposite the territory of Thronium, and enjoys a soil rich in every
kind of produce; thanks to which circumstance Philip had no scarcity of
anything he required for his purpose. Accordingly, as I said, as soon
as the works were completed, they begun at once pushing the trenches
and the siege machinery towards the walls....
[Sidenote: Spring of B.C. 209.[336]
+42.+ While Philip was investing Echinus, and had secured his position
excellently on the side of the town, and had strengthened the outer
line of his camp with a trench and wall, Publius Sulpicius, the Roman
proconsul, ] and Dorimachus, Strategus of the Aetolians, arrived in
person,—Publius with a fleet, and Dorimachus with an army of infantry
and cavalry,—and assaulted Philip’s entrenchment. Their repulse led to
greater exertions on Philip’s part in his attack upon the Echinaeans,
who in despair surrendered to him. For Dorimachus was not able to
reduce Philip by cutting off his supplies, as he got them by sea....
* * * * *
[Sidenote: Aegina taken before the end of 208 B.C., for Sulpicius
wintered there between 208-207 B.C. See Livy, 27, 32.]
When Aegina was taken by the Romans, such of the inhabitants as had
not escaped crowded together at the ships, and begged the proconsul to
allow them to send ambassadors to cities of their kinsmen to obtain
ransom. Publius at first returned a harsh answer, saying, that “When
they were their own masters was the time that they ought to have sent
ambassadors to their betters to ask for mercy, not now when they were
slaves. A little while ago they had not thought an ambassador from him
worthy of even a word; now that they were captives they expected to
be allowed to send ambassadors to their kinsfolk: was that not sheer
folly?” So at the time he dismissed those who came to him with these
words. But next morning he called all the captives together and said
that, as to the Aeginetans, he owed them no favour; but for the sake of
the rest of the Greeks he would allow them to send ambassadors to get
ransom, since that was the custom of their country....
ASIA
[Sidenote: July 26.]
[Sidenote: The transport of the army of Antiochus in his eastern
campaigns. See _supra_, 8, 25.]
+43.+ The Euphrates rises in Armenia and flows through Syria and the
country beyond to Babylonia. It seems to discharge itself into the
Red Sea; but in point of fact it does not do so: for its waters are
dissipated among the ditches dug across the fields before it reaches
the sea. Accordingly the nature of this river is the reverse of that
of others. For in other rivers the volume of water is increased in
proportion to the greater distance traversed, and they are at their
highest in winter and lowest in midsummer; but this river is fullest
of water at the rising of the dog-star, and has the largest volume
of water in Syria, which continually decreases as it advances. The
reason of this is that the increase is not caused by the collection
of winter rains, but by the melting of the snows; and its decrease by
the diversion of its stream into the land, and its subdivision for the
purposes of irrigation. It was this which on this occasion made the
transport of the army slow, because as the boats were heavily laden,
and the stream very low, the forces of the current did exceedingly
little to help them down.
EMBASSY FROM ROME TO PTOLEMY
[Sidenote: M. Atilius and Manius Glabrio sent to Alexandria with
presents to Ptolemy Philopator and Queen Cleopatra. Livy, 27, 4, B.C.
210.]
+44.+ The Romans sent ambassadors to Ptolemy, wishing to be supplied
with corn, as they were suffering from a great scarcity of it at home;
and, moreover, when all Italy had been laid waste by the enemy’s
troops up to the gates of Rome, and when all supplies from abroad were
stopped by the fact that war was raging, and armies encamped, in all
parts of the world except in Egypt. In fact the scarcity at Rome had
come to such a pitch, that a Sicilian medimnus was sold for fifteen
drachmae.[337] But in spite of this distress the Romans did not relax
in their attention to the war.
END OF VOL. I
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Vita Nicolai V. a _Dominico Georgio_, Rome, 1742, p. 206.
[2] Casaubon mentions in his preface several partial editions and
translations which had appeared by Greeks, Spaniards, Italians, and
Belgians. But he says all such translations were founded on the faulty
Latin translation of Perotti; and none were of any value. The only
fairly good one was a German translation.
[3] Unless the avoidance of the hiatus be counted one, which has
been pointed out by Hultsch. I cannot forbear from quoting here the
admirable words of Casaubon on the style of Polybius:—_Non deest sed
non eminet in Polybio facundia. Nihil vero est iniquius illis, qui
nullam putant esse eloquentiam, nisi uti nihil est præter eloquentiam.
Semper mihi apprime placuit Diodori Siculi sententia, vehementius in
historico eloquentiae studium improbantis. Verborum enim curam nimiam
veri fere par sequitur incuria. Oratio vultus animi est: ut hic fuerit
gravis aut solutus, ita etiam illa vel severa erit vel mollis._ The
nearest Greek to that of Polybius is II. Maccabees.
[4] Livy, 38, 30-34.
[5] Polyb. 23, 1, 7, 9.
[6] Polyb. 24, 6.
[7] Polyb. 29, 24.
[8] Plutarch, _Timol._ ch. 39; Plato, _Laws_, 947.
[9] Cicero, _Ep. ad Fam._ 5, 12
[10] Lucian, _Macrobii_, § 22.
[11] Livy, 36, 31.
[12] Pausan. 7, 9, 4.
[13] As Callicrates in B.C. 179; Polyb. 36, 2.
[14] 25, 9.
[15] 26, 3. Callicrates at the same time secured a party in his favour,
during his year of office B.C. 179, by restoring the Spartan and
Messenian exiles; in return for which the former set up his statue at
Olympia, the base of which is preserved. Hicks’s _Greek Inscriptions_,
p. 330.
[16] 28, 3.
[17] 28, 6.
[18] See 11, 8.
[19] 28, 12.
[20] The decree was brought into the Peloponnese by C. Popilius and Cn.
Octavius in B.C. 171. See Livy, 43, 17, _ne quis ullam rem in bellum
magistratibus Romanis conferret præter quam quod Senatus censuisset_.
Cp. Polyb. 28, 3.
[21] 28, 13-14.
[22] 28, 7.
[23] 29, 23.
[24] 29, 25, 26.
[25] Thus Appius Claudius Cento would be hostile from the rejection of
his illegal demand for 5000 men. One of the common grounds of offence
had long been the refusal of Philopoemen and other Strategi to summon
an assembly to meet a Roman officer unless he came duly authorised
with a definite communication from the Senate. On this ground
Quintus Caecilius was refused in B.C. 185 (Polyb. 23, 19) and also
Titus Flamininus in B.C. 183 (Polyb. 24, 5). See Freeman’s _Federal
Government_, pp. 652-655. And no doubt other cases of a similar nature
would occur, generally leading to an unfavourable report at Rome.
[26] Polyb. 30, 13. Thirlwall, vol. viii. p. 419.
[27] Pausanias, 7, 10, 7-12.
[28] Some few, it appears, had managed to escape, though at the risk of
certain execution if caught.
[29] Polyb. 29, 21. Plutarch, _Aemilius_, ch. 28.
[30] Diodorus Sic. _fr. lib._ 31; Plutarch, _Apophth. Scip. min._ 2.
[31] 32, 8-16.
[32] Thus he seems to have searched the Archives of the Pontifices.
Dionys. Halicarn. 1, 73. And he observed and criticised all Roman
customs, as, for instance, the provision for boys’ education at Rome.
Cic. _de Rep._ 4, 3.
[33] 31, 19-21.
[34] 35, 6.
[35] Livy, _Ep._ 49; Appian, _Pun._ 74-77.
[36] I infer this, not very confidently, from 9, 25.
[37] 37, 3.
[38] Scipio was born B.C. 185.
[39] 9, 25.
[40] 39, 3.
[41] Pliny, _N. H._ 5, § 9.
[42] Pausanias, 7, 11-12.
[43] _Ib._ 13.
[44] _Ib._ 14; Polyb. 38, 7-8.
[45] 38, 7-10.
[46] Thucyd. 3. 92.
[47] Livy says the battle was at Thermopylae. This was near enough for
a general statement, but Scarpheia is some miles to the south. Livy,
_Ep._ 52, Pausan. 7. 15.
[48] 39, 8 _sq._ Pausan. 7, 12 _sq._
[49] This has been much disputed. See Thirlwall’s note, vol. viii. p.
455. If the fragment, 29, 13 (40, 7) is given correctly by Strabo, it
seems certain that he must have arrived either before or immediately
after the fall of Corinth.
[50] 39, 13-14.
[51] 39. 15.
[52] Livy, _Ep._ 52.
[53] Pausan. 7, 16, 9. Polyb. 39, 16.
[54] Thus in B.C. 44 Brutus going out as propraetor to take the
province of Macedonia, goes first to Athens, and there, as well as
in the rest of Greece, collects troops and money. See the note in
Mommsen’s _History of Rome_, vol. III. p. 50 (book IV. c. 1.)
[55] Pausan. 8, 9, 1.
[56] _Id._ 8, 30, 8.
[57] _Id._ 8, 37, 2.
[58] _Id._ 8, 44, 5.
[59] _Id._ 8, 48, 8.
[60] The base of this has been discovered with its inscription—
Ἡ πόλις ἡ τῶν Ἠλείων Πολύβιον
Λυκόρτα Μεγαλοπολείτην.
Hê polis tôn Hêleiôn Polybion
Lykorta Megalopoleitên.
[61] Cicero, _Ep. ad Fam._ 5, 12. For the Numantine war (B.C. 134-132)
the authorities are Appian, _Hisp._ 48-98; Eutrop. 4, 17; Cicero _de
Off._ 1, 11, Strabo, 3, p. 162.
[62] 34, 14. Strabo, p. 677.
[63] 1, 1.
[64] 3, 4. It is clear that such passages, as for instance the
beginning of 2, 42, must have been written before B.C. 146, and perhaps
published, and therefore not altered. Cp. the answer of Zeno of Rhodes
to corrections sent by Polybius, that he could not make alterations, as
his work was already published (16, 20).
[65] 3, 57, cp. 34, 5.
[66] 21, 38.
[67] Lucian, _Macrobii_, §22.
[68] 9, 20.
[69] 10, 21.
[70] Cicero, _Epist. ad Fam._ 5, 12.
[71] 29, 10.
[72] 22, 14.
[73] _Off._ 3, 32.
[74] Republ. 2, 14, § 27.
[75] 3, 48.
[76] 3, 33.
[77] 3, 59.
[78] 9, 25.
[79] 10, 11.
[80] 16, 15.
[81] Dionys. Halic. 1, 17.
[82] 3, 22 _sqq._
[83] 31, 38.
[84] 34, 14.
[85] 12, 5.
[86] The elder Africanus died in B.C. 183.
[87] I append a list of all writers referred to by Polybius, the index
will show the places where they are mentioned. Aeneas Tacticus, Alcaeus
a grammarian, Antiphanes of Berga, Antisthenes of Rhodes, Aratus of
Sicyon, Archedicus, Aristotle, Callisthenes, Demetrius of Phalerum,
Demosthenes, Dicaearchus, Echecrates, Ephorus of Cumae, Epicharmus of
Cos, Eratosthenes, Eudoxus, Euemerus, Euripides, Fabius Pictor, Hesiod,
Homer, Philinus, Phylarchus, Pindar, Plato, Pytheas, Simonides of
Ceos, Stasinus, Strabo, Theophrastus of Lesbos, Theopompus of Chios,
Thucydides, Timaeus, Xenophon, Zaleucus, Zeno of Rhodes.
[88] 1, 14, 15.
[89] See bk. 12.
[90] 12, 15.
[91] Athenaeus, vi. 272 _b_.
[92] Plutarch, _Nicias_, 1, _Arat._ 38.
[93] In the reference to the Seven Magi (5, 43), and to the story of
Cleobis and Bito (22, 20).
[94] Cornelius Nepos, _Alcib._ 11. Plutarch, _Lys._ 30. Lucian,
_Quomodo hist. conscr._ § 59.
[95] The History of the Achaean league is given with unrivalled
learning, clearness, and impartiality by Bishop Thirlwall in the eighth
volume of his _History of Greece_. Its constitution has been discussed
with great fulness by Professor E. A. Freeman in his _History of
Federal Government_. Recently Mr. Capes has published an edition of the
parts of Polybius referring to it which will be found useful; and Mr.
Strachan-Davidson has an able essay upon it in his edition of Extracts
from Polybius. Still some brief statement of the main features of this
remarkable attempt to construct a durable Hellenic Federation could not
be altogether omitted here.
[96] Take for instance the oath of the Pylagorae (Aeschin. _de Fal.
L._ 121): “We will destroy no city of the Amphictyony, nor cut off its
streams in peace or war; if any shall do so, we will march against him
and destroy his cities; should any pillage the property of the god, or
be privy to or plan anything against what is in his temple, we will
take vengeance on him with hand and foot and voice and all our might.”
This is indeed the language rather of a Militant Church than a state;
but it is easily conceivable that, had these principles been carried
out (which they were not), something nearer a central and sovereign
parliament might have arisen.
[97] Herodotus, vi. 7, 11-12.
[98] See Herod. 9, 15; Thucyd. 2, 2; 4, 91; 5, 37; Xenophon _Hellen._
3, 4, 4, Boeckh, _C. I. G._ vol. i. p. 726.
[99] Herod. 7, 145-169.
[100] _Id._ 7, 172-174.
[101] Herod. 9, 88; Polyb. 9, 39. Equally abortive proved another
attempt at combination in B.C. 377, when the ξύνεδροι from the islands
met for a time at Athens. Grote, vol. ix. p. 319.
[102] Herod. 6, 49.
[103] Polybius (12, 26 _c_.) says that in his time the schools were
generally in disrepute. But is not this generally the verdict of
“practical” men on universities? The excitement at Rome at the visit
of the philosophers (B.C. 155) seems to show that they still enjoyed a
world-wide reputation.
[104] Herod. 8, 73.
[105] Thucy. 1, 103.
[106] _Id._ 3, 94-98.
[107] Xen. _Hellen._ 4, 6, 13, 14.
[108] Pausan. 10, 38, 10.
[109] Demosth. 3 _Phil._ 120.
[110] Pausan. 1, 4, 4.
[111] 18, 4 and 5.
[112] Herod. 1, 145. Instead of Rhypes and Aegae, the first of which
seems to have been burnt, and the other to have for some reason been
deserted, Polybius (2, 41) mentions Leontium and Caryneia.
[113] Thucyd. 1, 111, 115.
[114] Thucyd. 4, 21.
[115] 2, 38, 39.
[116] 2, 39, 40.
[117] Plutarch, _Arat._ ch. 9.
[118] Plutarch, _Arat._ ch. 22.
[119] Though this law was several times broken, certainly in the
case of Philopoemen, and probably in that of Aratus also. It is very
difficult to arrive at a satisfactory arrangement of Aratus’s seventeen
generalships if the strict alternation is preserved. See Freeman’s
_Federal Government_, p. 601.
[120] 2, 46.
[121] Plutarch, _Cleomenes_, 3-16.
[122] Plutarch, _Cleom._ 3. Messenia had been free from the Spartans
since the battle of Leuctra (B.C. 371). Epaminondas had meant by
the foundation of Megalopolis and Messene (B.C. 371-370) to form a
united Messenian and Arcadian state as a counterpoise to Sparta. The
Messenians had drifted away from this arrangement, but were now members
of the Achaean league. Polyb. 4, 32.
[123] 2, 46.
[124] Plutarch, _Cleom._ 15.
[125] See the remarks of Plutarch, _Arat._ 38.
[126] He was believed to have been long in secret communication with
Antigonus. Plutarch, _l.c._
[127] Polyb. 8, 14; Plutarch, _Arat._ 52.
[128] 10, 22, 24
[129] 11, 9-10.
[130] Plutarch, _Philop._ 12, 13.
[131] Plutarch, _Philop._ 16; Livy, 38, 32-34.
[132] 2, 38.
[133] 26, 3 _sq._
[134] The title of Achaean Strategus seems to have been revived under
the Empire. _C. I. G._ 1124. The principal authorities for the history
of the last hundred years of Greek Independence, including that of
the Achaean league, are Polybius, beginning with book 2, and in its
turn going on throughout the rest of his work which remains; scattered
notices in Livy from 27, 29 to the end of his extant work, and the
epitomes of the last books, mostly translated directly from Polybius;
Plutarch’s Lives of Agis, Cleomenes, Aratus, Philopoemen, Flamininus,
Aemilius; Pausanias, 7, 6-16; parts of Diodorus; Justinus (epitome of
Trogus); and some fragments of Greek historians collected by Müller.
[135] I speak of course of the restored league after the election of
one Strategus began, B.C. 255.
[136] For the change of time of the election see note on 5, 1.
[137] We hear nothing of a secretary under the new league after the
abolition of the dual presidency. But he probably still existed (2, 43).
[138] 10, 22.
[139] See ch. 46.
[140] This is certainly the meaning of the words of Polybius. But he
has confused matters. The two new Consuls designated at the comitia
of 249 were C. Aurelius Cotta II and P. Servilius Geminus II, whereas
Lucius Junius Pullus was the existing Consul with the disgraced P.
Claudius Pulcher. What really happened is made clear by Livy, Ep. 19.
The Senate sent Junius with these supplies, recalled Claudius, and
forced him to name a Dictator. Claudius retaliated by naming an obscure
person, who was compelled to abdicate, and then Atilius Calatinus was
nominated.
[141] The dangerous nature of the S. Coast of Sicily was well known to
the pilots. See above, ch. 37.
[142] About £500,000. For the value of the talent, taking the Euboic
and Attic talent as the same, see note on Book 34, 8.
[143] ἱστορήσαντας. There seems no need to give this word the unusual
sense of _narratum legere_ here, as some do.
[144] Sicca Venerea, so called from a temple of Venus, was notorious
for its licentiousness. Valer. Max. 2, 6, 15.
[145] A line of the text appears to have been lost, probably containing
an allusion to Hiero.
[146] The southernmost point of Italy is Leucopetra (Capo dell' Armi).
Cocinthus (Punta di Stilo) is much too far to the north; yet it may
have been regarded as the conventional point of separation between
the two seas, Sicilian and Ionian, which have no natural line of
demarcation.
[147] Really 3/16; for 16 ases = 6 obols (one drachma or denarius) see
34, 8. The Sicilian medimnus is about a bushel and a half; the metretes
8½ gallons.
[148] Livy, 5, 17, 33-49; Plutarch, _Camillus_, 16; Mommsen, _History
of Rome_, vol. i. p. 338 (Eng. tr.)
[149] Compare the description of the Gauls given by Caesar, B.G. 6,
11-20. They had apparently made considerable progress in civilisation
by that time, principally perhaps from the influence of Druidism.
But the last characteristic mentioned by Polybius is also observed
by Caesar (15), _omnes in bello versantur atque eorum ut quisque
est genere copiisque amplissimus, ita plurimos circum se ambactos
clienteeque habet. Hanc unam gratiam potentiamque habent._ Even in the
time of Cato they were at least beginning to add something to their
warlike propensities. Or, 2, 2 (Jordan) _Pleraque Gallia duas res
industrissime persequitur, rem militare et argute loqui_. Cf. Diod. 5,
27 _sq._
[150] Lucius Caecilius, Livy, Ep. 12.
[151] For a more complete list of Gallic invasions in this period, see
Mommsen, _H.R._ i. p. 344. The scantiness of continuous Roman history
from B.C. 390, and its total loss from 293 to the first Punic war
renders it difficult to determine exactly which of the many movements
Polybius has selected.
[152] Ch. 13.
[153] This clause is bracketed by Hultsch, Mommsen, and
Strachan-Davidson. See the essay of the last named in his Polybius, p.
22. Livy, Ep. 20, gives the number of Romans and Latins as 300,000.
[154] Others read Ananes and Marseilles [’Ανάνων ... Μασσαλίας]; but it
seems impossible that the Roman march should have extended so far.
[155] That is, each city struck its own coin, but on a common standard
of weight and value. See P. Gardner’s Introduction to Catalogue of
Greek Coins (Peloponnesus) in the British Museum, p. xxiv.
[156] The Pythagorean clubs, beginning in combinations for the
cultivation of mystic philosophy and ascetic life, had grown to be
political,— a combination of the upper or cultivated classes to secure
political power. Thus Archytas was for many years ruler in Tarentum
(Strabo, 1, 3, 4). The earliest was at Croton, but they were also
established in many cities of Magna Graecia. Sometime in the fourth
century B.C. a general democratic rising took place against them, and
their members were driven into exile. Strabo, 8, 7, 1; Justin, 20, 4;
Iamblichus _vit. Pythag._, 240-262.
[157] The MS. vary between ὁμάριος and ὁμόριος. The latter form seems
to mean “god of a common frontier.” But an inscription found at
Orchomenus gives the form ἀμάριος, which has been connected with ἡμάρα
“day.”
[158] There was still an under-strategus (ὑποστρατηγὸς), see 5, 94; 23,
16; 30, 11. But he was entirely subordinate, and did not even succeed
to power on the death of a strategus during the year of office, as the
vice-president in America does.
[159] Alexander II. of Epirus, son of Pyrrhus, whom he succeeded B.C.
272. The partition of Acarnania took place in B.C. 266.
[160] Near Bellina, a town on the north-west frontier of Laconia, which
had long been a subject of dispute between Sparta and the Achaeans.
Plutarch _Arat._ 4; Pausan. 8, 35, 4.
[161] Ptolemy Euergetes (B.C. 247-222).
[162] The treaty, besides securing the surrender of the Acrocorinthus,
provided that no embassy should be sent to any other king without the
consent of Antigonus, and that the Achaeans should supply food and pay
for the Macedonian army of relief. Solemn sacrifices and games were
also established in his honour, and kept up long after his death at
Sicyon, see 28, 19; 30, 23. Plutarch, _Arat._ 45. The conduct of Aratus
in thus bringing the Macedonians into the Peloponnese has been always
attacked (see Plut. _Cleom._ 16). It is enough here to say that our
judgment as to it must depend greatly on our view of the designs and
character of Cleomenes.
[163] Phylarchus, said by some to be a native of Athens, by others of
Naucratis, and by others again of Sicyon, wrote, among other things,
a history in twenty-eight books from the expedition of Pyrrhus into
the Peloponnese (B.C. 272) to the death of Cleomenes. He was a fervent
admirer of Cleomenes, and therefore probably wrote in a partisan
spirit; yet in the matter of the outrage upon Mantinea, Polybius
himself is not free from the same charge. See Mueller’s _Histor.
Graec._ fr. lxxvii.-lxxxi. Plutarch, though admitting Phylarchus’s
tendency to exaggeration (_Arat._ 38), yet uses his authority both in
his life of Aratus and of Cleomenes; and in the case of Aristomachus
says that he was both racked and drowned (_Arat._ 44).
[164] ἡγεμόνα καὶ στρατηγὸν. It is not quite clear whether this is
merely a description of the ordinary office of Strategus, or whether
any special office is meant, such as that conferred on Antigonus. In
4, 11 ἡγεμόνες includes the Strategus and other officers. See Freeman,
_Federal Government_, p. 299.
[165] Of Chaereas nothing seems known; a few fragments of an historian
of his name are given in Müller, vol. iii. Of Sosilus, Diodorus (26,
fr. 6) says that he was of Ilium and wrote a history of Hannibal in
seven books. Nepos (Hann. 13) calls him a Lacedaemonian, and says that
he lived in Hannibal’s camp and taught him Greek.
[166] _i.e._ in Latium.
[167] ἐπιλάβηται _injecerit manum_, the legal form of claiming a slave.
[168] 1, 83.
[169] Saguntum of course is south of the Iber, but the attack on it
by Hannibal was a breach of the former of the two treaties. Livy (21,
2) seems to assert that it was specially exempted from attack in the
treaty with Hasdrubal.
[170] From ch. 21.
[171] βασιλεύς. The two Suffetes represented the original Kings of
Carthage (6, 51). The title apparently remained for sacrificial
purposes, like the ἄρχων βασιλεύς, and the _rex sacrificulus_.
Polybius, like other Greek writers, calls them βασιλεῖς. _Infra_, 42.
Herod. 7, 165. Aristot. Pol. 2, 8.
[172] A promontory in Bruttium, _Capo del Colonne_.
[173] This division of the world into three parts was an advance upon
the ancient geographers, who divided it into two, combining Egypt with
Asia, and Africa with Europe. See Sall. _Jug._ 17; Lucan, _Phars._ 9,
411; Varro de L. L. 5, § 31. And note on 12, 25.
[174] The _arae Philaenorum_ were apparently set up as boundary stones
to mark the territory of the Pentapolis or Cyrene from Egypt: and the
place retained the name long after the disappearance of the altars
(Strabo, 3, 5, 5-6).
[175] For Polybius’s calculation as to the length of the stade, see
note on 34, 12.
[176] Livy, 21, 25, calls it _Tannetum_, and describes it only as
_vicus Pado propinquus_. It was a few miles from Parma.
[177] _Pluribus enim divisus amnis in mare decurrit_ (Livy, 21, 26).
[178] See on ch. 33, note 2.
[179] This statement has done much to ruin Polybius’s credit as a
geographer. It indicates indeed a strangely defective conception of
distance; as his idea, of the Rhone flowing always west, does of the
general lie of the country.
[180] I have no intention of rediscussing the famous question of the
pass by which Hannibal crossed the Alps. The reader will find an
admirably clear statement of the various views entertained, and the
latest arguments advanced in favour of each, in the notes to Mr. W. T.
Arnold’s edition of Dr. Arnold’s _History of the Second Punic War_, pp.
362-373.
[181] περί τι λευκόπετρον, which, however, perhaps only means “bare
rock,” cf. 10, 30. But see Law’s _Alps of Hannibal_, vol. i. p. 201
_sq._
[182] His life according to one story, was saved by his son, the famous
Scipio Africanus (10, 3); according to another, by a Ligurian slave
(Livy, 21, 46).
[183] Livy says “to Mago,” Hannibal’s younger brother (21, 47). This
Hasdrubal is called in ch. 93 “captain of pioneers.”
[184] That is, four legions and their regular contingent of socii. See
6, 19 _sqq._
[185] “He crossed the Apennines, not by the ordinary road to Lucca,
descending the valley of the Macra, but, as it appears, by a straighter
line down the valley of the Auser or Serchio.”—ARNOLD.
[186] The marshes between the Arno and the Apennines south of Florence.
[187] ἀπεκοιμῶντο Schw. translates simply _dormiebant_. But the
compound means more than that; it conveys the idea of an interval of
sleep snatched from other employments. See Herod. 8, 76; Aristoph.
_Vesp._ 211.
[188] Livy, 22, 4-6. For a discussion of the modern views as to the
scene of the battle, see W. T. Arnold’s edition of Dr. Arnold’s
_History of the Second Punic War_, pp. 384-393. The radical difference
between the account of Livy and that of Polybius seems to be that the
former conceives the fighting to have been on the north shore of the
lake between Tucro and Passignano; Polybius conceives the rear to have
been caught in the defile of Passignano, the main fighting to have
been more to the east, where the road turns up at right angles to the
lake by La Torricella. Mr. Capes, however in his note on the passage
of Livy, seems to think that both accounts agree in representing the
fighting on the vanguard as being opposite Tucro.
[189] This treatment of non-combatants was contrary to the usages of
civilised warfare even in those days, and seems to have been the true
ground for the charge of _crudelitas_ always attributed to Hannibal by
Roman writers, as opposed to the behaviour of such an enemy as Pyrrhus
(Cic. _de Am._ 28). It may be compared to the order of the Convention
to give no quarter to English soldiers, which the French officers nobly
refused to execute.
[190] Polybius expresses the fact accurately, for, in the absence of
a Consul to nominate a Dictator, Fabius was created by a plebiscitum;
but the scruples of the lawyers were quieted by his having the title of
_prodictator_ only (Livy, 22, 8).
[191] Ramsay (_Roman Antiquities_, p. 148) denies this exception,
quoting Livy, 6, 16. But Polybius could hardly have been mistaken on
such a point; and there are indications (Plutarch, _Anton._ 9) that
the Tribunes did not occupy the same position as the other magistrates
towards the Dictator.
[192] The _ager Praetutianus_ was the southern district of Picenum
(Livy, 22, 9; 27, 43). The chief town was Interamna.
[193] On the Appian Way between Equus Tuticus and Herdonia, mod.
_Troja_.
[194] Holsten for the Δαύνιοι of the old text; others suggest _Calatia_.
[195] Added by conjecture of Schw. One MS. has δευτέρα ἡ ἀπὸ τοῦ
Ἐριβανοῦ.
[196] Near Cales.
[197] Homer, _Odyss._ 10, 230.
[198] See i. 16.
[199] ἐξ ἀσπίδος ἐπιπαρενέβαλλον. The ordinary word for “forming line”
or “taking dressing” is παρεμβάλλειν. In the other two passages where
ἐπιπαρεμβάλλειν is used, ἐπί has a distinct (though different) force. I
think here it must mean “against,” “so as to attack.” And this seems to
be Casaubon’s interpretation.
[200] There is nothing here absolutely to contradict the picturesque
story of the death of Paulus given by Livy (22, 49), but the words
certainly suggest that Polybius had never heard it.
[201] A town on the lake of Trichonis, in Aetolia, but its exact
situation is uncertain. Strabo (10, 2, 3) says that it was on a fertile
plain, which answers best to a situation north of the lake.
[202] Cf. 9, 34. We know nothing of this incident.
[203] See 2, 53.
[204] The Achaean Strategus was elected in the middle of May, the
Aetolian in the autumn. Aratus would be elected May 12, B.C. 220, and
come into office some time before midsummer; Ariston’s Aetolian office
would terminate in September B.C. 220. See v. 1.
[205] The capture of Sicyon and expulsion of the tyrant Nicocles was
the earliest exploit of Aratus, B.C. 251. Plutarch, _Arat._ 4-9. The
taking of the Acrocorinthus from the Macedonian garrison was in B.C.
243, _ib._ ch. 19-24. For the affair at Pellene see _ib._ 31. The
capture of Mantinea was immediately after a defeat by Cleomenes. See
Plutarch, _Cleom._ 5.
[206] The city of Pheia was on the isthmus connecting the promontory
Ichthys (_Cape Katákolo_) with the mainland: opposite its harbour is
a small island which Polybius here calls _Pheias_, _i.e._ the island
belonging to Pheia.
[207] Caphyae was on a small plain, which was subject to inundations
from the lake of Orchomenus; the ditches here mentioned appear to be
those dug to drain this district. They were in the time of Pausanias
superseded by a high dyke, from the inner side of which ran the River
Tragus (_Tara_). Pausan. 8, 23, 2.
[208] The Olympiads being counted from the summer solstice, these
events occurring before midsummer of B.C. 220 belong to the 139th
Olympiad. The 140th begins with midsummer B.C. 220.
[209] But outside the natural borders of Arcadia. Mod. Kalávryta.
[210] By the diolcos which had been formed for the purpose. Strabo, 8,
2. Ships had been dragged across the Isthmus on various occasions from
early times. See Thucyd. 3, 15.
[211] Reading, μόνου. See ch. 13.
[212] A mountain on the frontier, on the pass over which the roads to
Tegea and Argos converge.
[213] A town of Phthiotis in Thessaly. See Book 25, 3.
[214] See ch. 15.
[215] See ch. 24.
[216] See Stobaeus Floril. 58, 9, who gives three more lines.
[217] Cf. ch. 74.
[218] The hero of the second Messenian war, B.C. 685-668 (Pausan. 4,
14-24). The story told by Pausanias, who also quotes these verses, is
that Aristocrates, king of the Arcadians, twice played the traitor to
Aristomenes, the Messenian champion: once at the battle of the Great
Trench, and again when Aristomenes renewed the war after his escape
from the Pits at Sparta; and that on the second occasion his own people
stoned him to death, and set up this pillar in the sacred enclosure of
Zeus on Mount Lycaeus.
[219] But Pausanias represents the pillar as put up by the Arcadians,
not the Messenians (4, 22, 7).
[220] The text is uncertain here.
[221] Reading with Hultsch, τὰ καλὰ.
[222] However cogent may be the reasons for his prophecy adduced by
Polybius, there are no signs of its being fulfilled. Indeed, the bank
at the mouth of the Danube, which he mentions, has long disappeared.
The fact seems to be that he failed to take into calculation the
constant rush of water out of the Euxine, which is sufficient to carry
off any amount of alluvial deposit.
[223] Xenophon, _Hellen._ 1, 1, 22.
[224] Or Tylis, according to Stephanos Byz., who says it was near the
Haemus. Perhaps the modern Kilios.
[225] Seleucus II. (Callinicus), B.C. 246-226. Seleucus III.
(Ceraunus), B.C. 226-223. Antiochus the Great (son of Callinicus), B.C.
223-187.
[226] Of Seleucus Callinicus.
[227] That this was the name of a yearly officer at Byzantium appears
from a decree in Demosthenes (_de Cor._ § 90), and Byzantine coins,
Eckhel, ii. p. 31. The title seems to have been brought from the
mother-city Megara; as at Chalcedon, another colony of Megara, the same
existed (C. I. G. 3794). It was connected with the worship of Apollo
brought from Megara, Müller’s _Dorians_, i. p. 250. It seems that this
use of the name (generally employed of the deputies to the Amphictyonic
council) was peculiarly Dorian. See Boeckh. C. I., vol. i. p. 610.
[228] Or Lyctos (Steph. Byz.)
[229] Of Arcadia, a city of Crete (Steph. Byz.)
[230] Which had a harbour formed by a projecting headland called
Lisses. Steph. Byz., who quotes Homer, _Odyss._ 3, 293:
ἔστι δέ τις Λισσὴς αἰπεῖά τε εἰς ἅλα πέτρη.
[231] As a measure of weight a talent = about 57 lbs. avoirdupois. The
prepared hair was for making ropes and bowstrings apparently.
[232] Gortyna or Gortys is an emendation of Reiske for Gorgus, which is
not known. Gortys is mentioned by Pausanias, 5, 7, 1; 8, 27, 4; 8, 28,
1; it was on the river Bouphagus, and in the time of Pausanias was a
mere village.
[233] See 2, 41. We have no hint, as far as I know, of the
circumstances under which such recovery would take place. We may
conjecture from this passage that it would be on showing that losses
had been sustained by reason of a failure of the league to give
protection.
[234] Stephanos describes Ambracus as a πολιχνίον close to Ambracia.
[235] Though it was in the territory of Acarnania (Steph. Byz.)
[236] 3, 19.
[237] The position of Dodona, long a subject of doubt, was settled by
the discovery of the numerous inscriptions found about seven miles from
Jannina, and published by Constantine Caraponos in 1878, _Dodon et ses
Ruines_. See also _Journal of Hellenic Studies_, vol. i. p. 228.
[238] See ch. 68.
[239] Reading ἁλίαν. See Müller’s _Dorians_, vol. II, p. 88.
[240] The local name of Tarentine, though doubtless originating in
fact, had come to indicate a species of mercenary cavalry armed in a
particular way. Arrian, _Tact._ 4, distinguishes two sorts of light
cavalry for skirmishing Tarentines armed with javelins (δορατία), and
horse archers (ἱπποτοξόται). Cp, 11, 12. Livy 35, 29; 37, 40.
[241] Pausanias (8, 26, 7) calls him Hypatodorus; and mentions another
work of his at Delphi (10, 10, 3). He flourished about B.C. 370. He
was a native of Thebes. Sostratos was a Chian, and father of another
statuary named Pantias. Paus. 6, 9, 3.
[242] That is the office of the Polemarch, as in Athens the Strategium
(στρατηγίον) is the office of the Strategi. Plutarch, _Nicias_, 5.
[243] Yet the avowed project of Cleomenes was the restoration of the
ancient constitution. Plutarch, _Cleom._ c. 10.
[244] See ch. 59.
[245] From 4, 6, it appears that the election took place at the rising
of the Pleiades (13th May) and that the new Strategus did not enter
upon his office until some time afterwards, towards the middle of June
or even midsummer. But the custom apparently varied, and the use of
τότε seems to indicate a change.
[246] Later on the assemblies were held at the different cities in
turn. See 23, 17; 24, 10, etc.
[247] Νεοκρῆτες, cf. cc. 65, 79. Livy (37, 40) transcribes the word
_Neocretes_. It is uncertain what the exact meaning of the word is. It
seems most reasonable to suppose that, like Tarentini, it had ceased
to be an ethnical term, and meant mercenary soldiers (νέοι) armed like
Cretans, that is, as archers.
[248] The narrow channel between Leucas and the mainland, which had
been artificially enlarged. Dionys Halic. 1, 50.
[249] 4, 63.
[250] 4, 62.
[251] 4, 67.
[252] The pun disappears in translation. The line is
ὁρᾷς τὸ +δῖον+ οὗ βέλος δίεπτατο.
[253] Games in his honour were celebrated at Sicyon. See Plutarch,
_Arat._ 45. _Cleomenes_, 16. _Supra_, p. 147 n. _Infra_, 28, 19; 30, 23.
[254] A memorial, apparently, of the fruitless expedition of Pyrrhus
into Laconia in B.C. 272.
[255] The Guard. The word _agema_ properly means the leading corps in
an army; but it obtained this technical meaning in the Macedonian army
(see Arrian, 1, 1, 11), whence it was used in other armies also founded
on the Macedonian model, as for instance in Alexandria (see _infra_,
ch. 65).
[256] Hypaspists, originally a bodyguard to the king, had been extended
in number and formed one or more distinct corps of light infantry
(Grote, ch. 92).
[257] Here again, as in 5, 1, the outgoing Strategus appears to go out
of office at the time of the election of his successor (see note on ch.
1, and cp. 4, 6). There seems to have been some variety of practice.
Perhaps the interval was left somewhat to mutual arrangement, the
summer solstice being the outside limit.
[258] See 2, 69.
[259] Archidamus was the brother of Agis, the king of the other line,
who had been assassinated in B.C. 240. Plutarch, _Cleom._ 5, probably
on the authority of Phylarchus, represents the murder of Archidamus as
not the work of Cleomenes, but of the same party that had murdered Agis
and feared the vengeance of his brother. (See Thirlwall, 8, p. 158, who
agrees with Plutarch.)
[260] Homer, _Il._, 22, 304.
[261] The false Smerdis (Herod. 3, 61-82).
[262] Hence the sacred breed of Nisaean horses, used for the Persian
king’s chariot (Herod 7, 40; 9, 20). The Nisaean plain was one of those
in Media containing the best pasture, and is identified by Rawlinson
with that of _Khawar_ and _Alistan_ near _Behistun_.
[263] ἕταιροι are cavalry; the πεζέταιροι of the Macedonian army are
represented in Polybius by the Hypaspists. See _supra_, ch. 27, cp. 16,
18.
[264] That is, Demetrius II. and Antigonus Doson.
[265] See Professor Mahaffy, _Greek Life and Thought_, p. 405, who
points out that this refers to the Egyptian troops especially, whose
old military castes (see Herod. 2, 164-6) though not extinct had
forgotten their old skill. In a sense, however, it applies to both
kinds of troops; for they had to be trained to act _together_, as is
shown in the next chapter.
[266] See above, ch. 5 note.
[267] Two different towns of this name have already been mentioned (ch.
48, 52). This Dura appears to be in Phoenicia; but nothing is known of
it.
[268] Seleucus I., B.C. 306-280. Antigonus, the One-eyed, in B.C. 318,
occupied Coele-Syria and Phoenicia after a victory over Perdiccas.
Diodor. Sic. 18, 43.
[269] Battle of Ipsus, B.C. 301.
[270] See _ante_, ch. 40-2, 57-8.
[271] Antiochus Hierax, son of Antiochus II.
[272] Laodice was the sister of the wife of Antiochus (5, 43) and a
daughter of King Mithridates (8, 22-23).
[273] Selge was said to be a colony of the Lacedaemonians. Strabo 13,
7, 3.
[274] Called Barathra. See Strabo, 17, 1, 21.
[275] Agema. See note on 5, 25.
[276] Sarissae, the long Macedonian spears.
[277] Polybius therefore reckons the value of the λέβητες and ὑδρίαι as
five talents.
[278] That is about 171,000 lbs., see 34, 8, note, reckoning the talent
as = 57 lbs.
[279] ἀρτάβη, an Egyptian measure = the Attic medimnus.
[280] Callinicus, ob. B.C. 226. This must refer to another case.
[281] See _ante_, ch. 30. Agetas had been elected Aetolian Strategus in
the autumn of 218 B.C., Aratus Achaean Strategus in the early summer of
B.C. 217.
[282] See 2, 61-4. B.C. 222.
[283] See 2, 39.
[284] See _supra_, ch. 24.
[285] According to Suidas, these were light vessels used by pirates:
but whether the name arose from their construction, capacity, or the
number of their oars, seems uncertain. According to Hesychius they had
two banks of oars (δίκροτος ναῦς· πλοῖον μικρόν).
[286] See ch. 95.
[287] This language is so vague that we might suppose from it that
the Achaeans elected Timoxenus in the summer of B.C. 217 to come
into office in the following spring. But there is nowhere else any
indication of such an interval at this period, and we must suppose
Polybius to be speaking in general terms of the result of the peace
during the next ten months. Agelaus was elected Aetolian Strategus in
the autumn of B.C. 217.
[288] Euripides, fr. 529. Ed. Nauck.
[289] Some disconnected fragments which are usually placed at the end
of the first chapter, and form the second chapter of this book, I have
placed among the minor fragments at the end of these volumes.
[290] Aristotle’s classification is kingship, aristocracy, πολιτεία,
democracy, oligarchy, tyranny (Pol. 4, 2). This was derived from Plato
(Pol. 302, c.) who arranges the six (besides the ideal polity) in
pairs, kingship, tyranny,—aristocracy, oligarchy,—democracy, good and
bad. Plato has no distinct name except δημοκρατία παράνομος, for the
bad democracy which Polybius calls ὀχλοκρατία, “mob-rule.” Polybius’s
arrangement is this—
Kingship (arising from a natural despotism or monarchy)
degenerates into Tyranny.
Aristocracy degenerates into Oligarchy.
Democracy degenerates into Mob-rule.
[291] εὐθύνας. Polybius uses a word well known at Athens and other
Greek states, but the audit of a Consul seems to have been one of money
accounts only. At the expiration, however, of his office he took an
oath in public that he had obeyed the laws, and if any prosecution were
brought against him it would be tried before the people. See the case
of Publius Claudius, 1, 52.
[292] This refers primarily to the _consilium_ of the _quaesitor_ in
any special _quaestio_, which up to the time of the lex judiciaria of
Gracchus, B.C. 122, was invariably composed of Senators. The same would
apply to the _Quaestiones perpetuae_, only one of which existed in the
time of Polybius, i.e., _de repetundis_, established in 149 B.C. by the
lex Calpurnia. Other single judices in civil suits, though nominated by
the Praetor, were, Polybius intimates, almost necessarily Senators in
cases of importance.
[293] Casaubon altered this to “two hundred.” In 3, 107, Polybius
certainly states that the ordinary number of cavalry was 200, raised
in cases of emergency to 300, and Livy, 22, 36, gives an instance. But
both authors in many other passages mention 300 as the usual number,
and any alteration of this passage would be unsafe.
[294] _Praefectus sociis_ and _quaestor_. But this quaestor must be
distinguished from the Roman quaestors.
[295] For the Spanish sword see Fr. xxii.
[296] Polybius does not mention the subdivision of maniples into
centuries, for which the word ordines is sometimes used. Livy, 8, 8;
42, 34.
[297] The plethrum = 10,000 square feet. The side of the square of the
Praetorium, therefore, is 200 feet.
[298] That is the _via_ separating it from the next block, or from the
vallum.
[299] That is, one between the two legions, and two between the blocks
in each.
[300] That is to say—without the _extraordinarii_ (⅕)—there are 2400 to
get into 10 spaces instead of 3000 into 30.
[301] That is, who have been selected from the pedites sociorum to
serve on the praetoria cohors.
[302] Polybius always calls this the χάραξ or χαράκωμα. But the Romans
had two words, _agger_ the embankment, and _vallum_ the palisading on
the top of it. Either word, however, is often used to represent the
whole structure.
[303] That is, whether in first, second, or other watch in the night.
[304] See the story of Cato’s son, Plutarch, _Cato Maj._ 20.
[305] In seeking a constitution to compare with that of Rome, that of
Athens is rejected (1) as not being a mixed one, (2) as not having been
successful: successful, that is, in gaining or keeping an empire. He is
speaking somewhat loosely. The power of Athens, of which Themistocles
laid the foundation, was mainly consolidated by Pericles; so that
Polybius includes much of the period of her rise with that of her
decline.
[306] For what remains of the account of Ephorus see Strabo, 10, 4,
8-9. The reference to Plato is to the “Laws,” especially Book I.
See also Aristotle, _Pol._ 2, 10, who points out the likeness and
unlikeness between the Cretan and Lacedaemonian constitutions.
[307] This equality of land had gradually disappeared by the time of
King Agis IV. (B.C. 243-239): so that, according to Plutarch [_Agis_
5], the number of landowners was reduced to 100. This process had been
accelerated by the Rhetra of Epitadeus, allowing free bequest of land,
Plutarch, _ib._ See Thirlwall, vol. viii. p. 132.
[308] The meaning of νενεμημένους, which I here represent by “acquired
a recognised position,” is at least doubtful. Casaubon translates it
_qui in album non fuerint recepti_, referring to Sueton. Nero, 21. But
nothing is elsewhere known of such an _album_ for registering the names
of recognised athletes. The passage is important as helping to explain
how the number of those entering for the contests in the greater games
was practically limited, and therefore how it happened that, for
instance, the five contests of the Pentathlum did not often fall to
different athletes so as to leave the victory uncertain.
[309] The Carthaginian Suffetes are always called βασιλεῖς by the
Greek writers: see 3, 33, note; Herod. 7, 165; Diod. Sic. 14, 53.
Aristotle [_Pol._ 2, 11], in contrasting the Spartan and Carthaginian
constitutions, mentions with approval that, unlike the Spartan kings,
those at Carthage were elected, and were not confined to a particular
family.
[310] See Bosworth Smith, _Carthage and the Carthaginians_, p. 26 ff.
[311] This seems to be the only authority for assigning to the censors
the _toga purpurea_ instead of the _toga praetexta_: and, indeed,
Athenaeus speaks of them as wearing the toga praetexta περιπόρφυρος,
14, 69. In Livy, 40, 45, they occupy _sellae curules_.
[312] Livy (2, 10) makes Cocles succeed in reaching the bank alive.
[313] But Polybius afterwards admits that a falling off in this respect
had begun. See 18, 35; 32, 11.
[314] Livy, 22, 58-61.
[315] κακοὶ κακῶς, a phrase at once insulting and vulgar.
[316] Plutarch, _Aratus_, ch. 48.
[317] βαλανάγρας. The βαλανάγρα was a straight piece of wood with
upright pins corresponding with those that fall into the bolt (the
βάλανοι), and which are pushed up by it. It was thus used as a key
which could be taken out and kept by the Commandant, as in Herod. 3,
155; Thucyd. 2, 4. But Polybius here seems to use it as equivalent to
βάλανος. See Aeneas, _Tact._ 18-20, who recommends that the μόχλος
should be sheeted with iron to prevent this very operation. Cp. 4, 57.
What he means by ζύγωμα on the outside (here translated “fastenings”)
is also somewhat doubtful. From Hesychius, s.v. ἐπιξευκτήρ, it might be
conjectured that chains of some kind were intended. Casaubon supposed
it to be a cross bar similar to the μόχλος inside, and Schw. to
represent the posts and the lintel connecting them.
[318] See 5, 37. According to Phylarchus the murder of Archidamus was
against the wish of Cleomenes. Plut. _Cleom._ 5.
[319] To which proceedings may be referred a sentence of Polybius
preserved by Suidas, s.v. διεσκευασμένην—“They send out certain
Cretans, as though on a raid, giving them a sham despatch to carry.”
See Livy, 24, 30-31.
[320] Cp. 1, 35.
[321] σκορπίδια, mentioned among a number of similar engines in 1
Macc. 6, 51. Plutarch calls them σκορπίοι, and explains that they only
carried a short distance, but, being concealed, gave wounds at close
quarters; hence, doubtless, their name.
[322] See also Athenaeus, 4, 166-167. Theopompus of Chius was a
contemporary of Philip II. and Alexander, having been born about B.C.
376-372.
[323] The accusation of administering slow poisons is a very common
one, as readers of mediæval history know. But the ignorance of the
conditions of health was too great to allow us to accept them without
question. It is doubtful whether drugs, acting in this particular way,
were known to the ancients; and certainly spitting blood would be no
conclusive evidence of the presence of poison. See Creighton’s _History
of the Papacy_, vol. iv. Append.
[324] This fragment is supposed, by comparison with Livy, 25, 36, to
belong to the account of the fall of Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio in Spain,
B.C. 212.
[325] Or “legion,” according to others. But as both Consuls are engaged
in the business, it seems reasonable to refer it to the two consular
armies of two legions each.
[326] That is “blaming Fortune or Providence.” Schw. quotes Xenophon
_Hellen._ 7, 5, 12, ἔξεστι μὲν τὸ θεῖον αἰτιᾶσθαι.
[327] συμπέμψαι, a difficult word. See Strachan-Davidson’s note. It
seems to me to be opposed to φυγεῖν or some such idea. Hannibal was
not in flight, but kept the enemy with him, as it were, in a kind of
procession, until the moment for striking.
[328] There is some word wanting in the text here which has been
variously supplied. I have ventured to conjecture =τὰ γὰρ δοκοῦντα=
παράβολον κ.τ.λ., and to translate accordingly: for it is the boldness
and apparent rashness of Hannibal’s movement that Polybius seems to
wish to commend.
[329] Cp. Homer, _Odyss._ 19, 471.
[330] Livy, 25, 40, calls him Mutines.
[331] See 3, 86, note. Cp. Cicero de Am. § 8, cum duobus ducibus de
imperio in Italia decertatum est, Pyrrho et Annibale. Ab altero propter
probitatem ejus non nimis alien os animos habemus; alterum _propter
crudelitatem semper haec civitas oderit_.
[332] The paragraph “For the Aetolians ... in Greece,” follows “the
Messenians” in ch. 30, in the Greek texts. But it is evidently out of
place there, and falls naturally into this position.
[333] Antigonus Doson.
[334] B.C. 211. See Livy, 26, 24-26.
[335] On the margin of one MS. is written “For such is the
characteristic always maintained by the Athenian State.” But its
relevancy is not very apparent; and at any rate it seems more likely to
be a comment of the Epitomator, than a sentence from Polybius.
[336] Scopas (B.C. 211-210) must have gone out of office, _i.e._ it was
after autumn of 210 B.C.
[337] That is, 10s. 3¾d. for about a bushel and a half. See on 2, 15.
_Printed by_ R. & R. CLARK, _Edinburgh_