Delphi Complete Works of Polybius

by Polybius

  36. Our narrative now returns to Hasdrubal, whom we left in command of the Carthaginian forces in Iberia. After eight years command in that country, he was assassinated in his own house at night by a certain Celt in revenge for some private wrong. Before his death he had done much to strengthen the Carthaginian power in Iberia, not so much by military achievements, as by the friendly relations which he maintained with the native princes. Now that he was dead, the Carthaginians invested Hannibal with the command in Iberia, in spite of his youth, because of the ability in the conduct of affairs, and the daring spirit which he had displayed. He had no sooner assumed the command, than he nourished a fixed resolve to make war on Rome; nor was it long before he carried out this resolution. From that time forth there were constant suspicions and causes of offence arising between the Carthaginians and Romans. And no wonder: for the Carthaginians were meditating revenge for their defeats in Sicily; and the Romans were made distrustful from a knowledge of their designs. These things made it clear to every one of correct judgment that before long a war between these two nations was inevitable.

  [1] κατὰ δὲ τοὺς αὐτοὺς καιροὺς Ἀχαιοὶ καὶ Φίλιππος ὁ βασιλεὺς ἅμα τοῖς ἄλλοις συμμάχοις συνίσταντο τὸν πρὸς Αἰτωλοὺς πόλεμον τὸν προσαγορευθέντα συμμαχικόν. [2] ἡμεῖς δ᾽ ἐπειδὴ τάς τε περὶ Σικελίαν καὶ Λιβύην καὶ τὰς ἑξῆς πράξεις διεξιόντες κατὰ τὸ συνεχὲς τῆς προκατασκευῆς ἥκομεν ἐπὶ τὴν ἀρχὴν τοῦ τε συμμαχικοῦ καὶ τοῦ δευτέρου συστάντος μὲν Ῥωμαίοις καὶ Καρχηδονίοις πολέμου, προσαγορευθέντος δὲ παρὰ τοῖς πλείστοις Ἀννιβιακοῦ, κατὰ δὲ τὴν ἐξ ἀρχῆς πρόθεσιν ἀπὸ τούτων τῶν καιρῶν ἐπηγγειλάμεθα ποιήσασθαι τὴν ἀρχὴν τῆς ἑαυτῶν συντάξεως, [3] πρέπον ἂν εἴη τούτων ἀφεμένους ἐπὶ τὰς κατὰ τὴν Ἑλλάδα μεταβαίνειν πράξεις, ἵνα πανταχόθεν ὁμοίαν ποιησάμενοι τὴν προκατασκευὴν καὶ τὴν ἔφοδον ἐπὶ τοὺς αὐτοὺς καιροὺς οὕτως ἤδη [τῆς Ἰταλίας καὶ] τῆς ἀποδεικτικῆς ἱστορίας ἀρχώμεθα. [4] ἐπεὶ γὰρ οὐ τινὰς πράξεις, καθάπερ οἱ πρὸ ἡμῶν, οἷον τὰς Ἑλληνικὰς ἢ Περσικάς, ὁμοῦ δὲ τὰς ἐν τοῖς γνωριζομένοις μέρεσι τῆς οἰκουμένης ἀναγράφειν ἐπικεχειρήκαμεν διὰ τὸ πρὸς τοῦτο τὸ μέρος τῆς ὑποθέσεως ἴδιόν τι συμβεβλῆσθαι τοὺς καθ᾽ ἡμᾶς καιρούς, ὑπὲρ ὧν σαφέστερον ἐν ἑτέροις δηλώσομεν, [5] δέον ἂν εἴη καὶ πρὸ τῆς κατασκευῆς ἐπὶ βραχὺ τῶν ἐπιφανεστάτων καὶ γνωριζομένων ἐθνῶν καὶ τόπων ἐφάψασθαι τῆς οἰκουμένης. [6] περὶ μὲν οὖν τῶν κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν καὶ τῶν κατὰ τὴν Αἴγυπτον ἀρκούντως ἂν ἔχοι ποιεῖσθαι τὴν ἀνάμνησιν ἀπὸ τῶν νῦν ῥηθέντων καιρῶν διὰ τὸ τὴν μὲν ὑπὲρ τῶν προγεγονότων παρ᾽ αὐτοῖς ἱστορίαν ὑπὸ πλειόνων ἐκδεδόσθαι καὶ γνώριμον ὑπάρχειν ἅπασιν, ἐν δὲ τοῖς καθ᾽ ἡμᾶς καιροῖς μηδὲν αὐτοῖς ἐξηλλαγμένον ἀπηντῆσθαι μηδὲ παράλογον ὑπὸ τῆς τύχης ὥστε προσδεῖσθαι τῆς τῶν προγεγονότων ὑπομνήσεως. [7] περὶ δὲ τοῦ τῶν Ἀχαιῶν ἔθνους καὶ περὶ τῆς Μακεδόνων οἰκίας ἁρμόσει διὰ βραχέων ἀναδραμεῖν τοῖς χρόνοις, ἐπειδὴ περὶ μὲν ταύτην ὁλοσχερὴς ἐπαναίρεσις, [8] περὶ δὲ τοὺς Ἀχαιούς, καθάπερ ἐπάνω προεῖπον, παράδοξος αὔξησις καὶ συμφρόνησις ἐν τοῖς καθ᾽ ἡμᾶς καιροῖς γέγονε. [9] πολλῶν γὰρ ἐπιβαλομένων ἐν τοῖς παρεληλυθόσι χρόνοις ἐπὶ ταὐτὸ συμφέρον ἀγαγεῖν Πελοποννησίους, οὐδενὸς δὲ καθικέσθαι δυνηθέντος διὰ τὸ μὴ τῆς κοινῆς ἐλευθερίας ἕνεκεν ἀλλὰ τῆς σφετέρας δυναστείας χάριν ἑκάστους ποιεῖσθαι τὴν σπουδήν, [10] τοιαύτην καὶ τηλικαύτην ἐν τοῖς καθ᾽ ἡμᾶς καιροῖς ἔσχε προκοπὴν καὶ συντέλειαν τοῦτο τὸ μέρος ὥστε μὴ μόνον συμμαχικὴν καὶ φιλικὴν κοινωνίαν γεγονέναι πραγμάτων περὶ αὐτούς, ἀλλὰ καὶ νόμοις χρῆσθαι τοῖς αὐτοῖς καὶ σταθμοῖς καὶ μέτροις καὶ νομίσμασι, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις ἄρχουσι, βουλευταῖς, [11] δικασταῖς, τοῖς αὐτοῖς, καθόλου δὲ τούτῳ μόνῳ διαλλάττειν τοῦ μὴ μιᾶς πόλεως διάθεσιν ἔχειν σχεδὸν τὴν σύμπασαν Πελοπόννησον, τῷ μὴ τὸν αὐτὸν περίβολον ὑπάρχειν τοῖς κατοικοῦσιν αὐτήν, τἄλλα δ᾽ εἶναι καὶ κοινῇ καὶ κατὰ πόλεις ἑκάστοις ταὐτὰ καὶ παραπλήσια.

  37. At the same period the Achaean league and King Philip, with their allies, were entering upon the war with the Aetolian league, which is called the Social war. Now this was the point at which I proposed to begin my general history; and as I have brought the account of the affairs of Sicily and Libya, and those which immediately followed, in a continuous narrative, up to the date of the beginning of the Social and Second Punic, generally called the Hannibalic, wars, it will be proper to leave this branch of my subject for a while, and to take up the history of events in Greece, that I may start upon my full and detailed narrative, after bringing the prefatory sketch of the history of the several countries to the same point of time. For since I have not undertaken, as previous writers have done, to write the history of particular peoples, such as the Greeks or Persians, but the history of all known parts of the world at once, because there was something in the state of our own times which made such a plan peculiarly feasible, — of which I shall speak more at length hereafter, — it will be proper, before entering on my main subject, to touch briefly on the state of the most important of the recognised nations of the world.

  Of Asia and Egypt I need not speak before the time at which my history commences. The previous history of these countries has been written by a number of historians already, and is known to all the world; nor in our days has any change specially remarkable or unprecedented occurred to them demanding a reference to their past. But in regard to the Achaean league, and the royal family of Macedonia, it will be in harmony with my design to go somewhat farther back: for the latter has become entirely extinct; while the Achaeans, as I have stated before, have in our time made extraordinary progress in material prosperity and internal unity. For though many statesmen had tried in past times to induce the Peloponnesians to join in a league for the common interests of all, and had always failed, because every one was working to secure his own power rather than the freedom of the whole; yet in our day this policy has made such progress, and been carried out with such completeness, that not only is there in the Peloponnese a community of interests such as exists between allies or friends, but an absolute identity of laws, weights, measures, and currency. All the States have the same magistrates, senate, and judges. Nor is there any difference between the entire Peloponnese and
a single city, except in the fact that its inhabitants are not included within the same wall; in other respects, both as a whole and in their individual cities, there is a nearly absolute assimilation of institutions.

  [1] πρῶτον δέ, πῶς ἐπεκράτησε καὶ τίνι τρόπῳ τὸ τῶν Ἀχαιῶν ὄνομα κατὰ πάντων Πελοποννησίων, οὐκ ἄχρηστον μαθεῖν. [2] οὔτε γὰρ χώρας καὶ πόλεων πλήθει διαφέρουσιν οἱ πάτριον ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἔχοντες τὴν προσηγορίαν ταύτην οὔτε πλούτοις οὔτε ταῖς τῶν ἀνδρῶν ἀρεταῖς. [3] τό τε γὰρ τῶν Ἀρκάδων ἔθνος, ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τὸ τῶν Λακώνων πλήθει μὲν ἀνδρῶν καὶ χώρας οὐδὲ παρὰ μικρὸν ὑπερέχει: καὶ μὴν οὐδὲ τῶν τῆς ἀνδραγαθίας πρωτείων οὐδενὶ τῶν Ἑλλήνων οἷοί τ᾽ εἰσὶν οὐδέποτε παραχωρεῖν οἱ προειρημένοι. [4] πῶς οὖν καὶ διὰ τί νῦν εὐδοκοῦσιν οὗτοί τε καὶ τὸ λοιπὸν πλῆθος τῶν Πελοποννησίων, ἅμα τὴν πολιτείαν τῶν Ἀχαιῶν καὶ τὴν προσηγορίαν μετειληφότες; [5] δῆλον ὡς τύχην μὲν λέγειν οὐδαμῶς ἂν εἴη πρέπον: φαῦλον γάρ: αἰτίαν δὲ μᾶλλον ζητεῖν. χωρὶς γὰρ ταύτης οὔτε τῶν κατὰ λόγον οὔτε τῶν παρὰ λόγον εἶναι δοκούντων οὐδὲν οἷόν τε συντελεσθῆναι. ἔστι δ᾽ οὖν, ὡς ἐμὴ δόξα, τοιαύτη τις. [6] ἰσηγορίας καὶ παρρησίας καὶ καθόλου δημοκρατίας ἀληθινῆς σύστημα καὶ προαίρεσιν εἰλικρινεστέραν οὐκ ἂν εὕροι τις τῆς παρὰ τοῖς Ἀχαιοῖς ὑπαρχούσης. [7] αὕτη τινὰς μὲν ἐθελοντὴν αἱρετιστὰς εὗρε Πελοποννησίων, πολλοὺς δὲ πειθοῖ καὶ λόγῳ προσηγάγετο: τινὰς δὲ βιασαμένη σὺν καιρῷ παραχρῆμα πάλιν εὐδοκεῖν ἐποίησεν αὑτῇ τοὺς ἀναγκασθέντας. [8] οὐδενὶ γὰρ οὐδὲν ὑπολειπομένη πλεονέκτημα τῶν ἐξ ἀρχῆς, ἴσα δὲ πάντα ποιοῦσα τοῖς ἀεὶ προσλαμβανομένοις ταχέως καθικνεῖτο τῆς προκειμένης ἐπιβολῆς, δύο συνεργοῖς χρωμένη τοῖς ἰσχυροτάτοις, ἰσότητι καὶ φιλανθρωπίᾳ. [9] διὸ ταύτην ἀρχηγὸν καὶ παραίτιον ἡγητέον τοῦ συμφρονήσαντας Πελοποννησίους τὴν ὑπάρχουσαν αὐτοῖς εὐδαιμονίαν καταστήσασθαι. [10] τὰ μὲν οὖν τῆς προαιρέσεως καὶ τὸ τῆς πολιτείας ἰδίωμα τὸ νῦν εἰρημένον καὶ πρότερον ὑπῆρχε παρὰ τοῖς Ἀχαιοῖς. [11] δῆλον δὲ τοῦτο καὶ δι᾽ ἑτέρων μὲν πλειόνων, πρὸς δὲ τὸ παρὸν ἀρκέσει πίστεως χάριν ἓν ἢ καὶ δεύτερον ληφθὲν μαρτύριον.

  38. It will be useful to ascertain, to begin with, how it came to pass that the name of the Achaeans became the universal one for all the inhabitants of the Peloponnese. For the original bearers of this ancestral name have no superiority over others, either in the size of their territory and cities, or in wealth, or in the prowess of their men. For they are a long way off being superior to the Arcadians and Lacedaemonians in number of inhabitants and extent of territory; nor can these latter nations be said to yield the first place in warlike courage to any Greek people whatever. Whence then comes it that these nations, with the rest of the inhabitants of the Peloponnese, have been content to adopt the constitution and the name of the Achaeans? To speak of chance in such a matter would not be to offer any adequate solution of the question, and would be a mere idle evasion. A cause must be sought; for without a cause nothing, expected or unexpected, can be accomplished. The cause then, in my opinion, was this. Nowhere could be found a more unalloyed and deliberately established system of equality and absolute freedom, and, in a word, of democracy, than among the Achaeans. This constitution found many of the Peloponnesians ready enough to adopt it of their own accord: many were brought to share in it by persuasion and argument: some, though acting under compulsion at first, were quickly brought to acquiesce in its benefits; for none of the original members had any special privilege reserved for them, but equal rights were given to all comers: the object aimed at was therefore quickly attained by the two most unfailing expedients of equality and fraternity. This then must be looked upon as the source and original cause of Peloponnesian unity and consequent prosperity.

  That this was the original principle on which the Achaeans acted in forming their constitution might be demonstrated by many proofs; but for the present purpose it will be sufficient to allege one or two in confirmation of my assertion.

  [1] καθ᾽ οὓς γὰρ καιροὺς ἐν τοῖς κατὰ τὴν Ἰταλίαν τόποις κατὰ τὴν Μεγάλην Ἑλλάδα τότε προσαγορευομένην ἐνεπρήσθη τὰ συνέδρια τῶν Πυθαγορείων, [2] μετὰ ταῦτα γενομένου κινήματος ὁλοσχεροῦς περὶ τὰς πολιτείας, ὅπερ εἰκός, ὡς ἂν τῶν πρώτων ἀνδρῶν ἐξ ἑκάστης πόλεως οὕτω παραλόγως διαφθαρέντων, [3] συνέβη τὰς κατ᾽ ἐκείνους τοὺς τόπους Ἑλληνικὰς πόλεις ἀναπλησθῆναι φόνου καὶ στάσεως καὶ παντοδαπῆς ταραχῆς. [4] ἐν οἷς καιροῖς ἀπὸ τῶν πλείστων μερῶν τῆς Ἑλλάδος πρεσβευόντων ἐπὶ τὰς διαλύσεις, Ἀχαιοῖς καὶ τῇ τούτων πίστει συνεχρήσαντο πρὸς τὴν τῶν παρόντων κακῶν ἐξαγωγήν. [5] οὐ μόνον δὲ κατὰ τούτους τοὺς καιροὺς ἀπεδέξαντο τὴν αἵρεσιν τῶν Ἀχαιῶν, ἀλλὰ καὶ μετά τινας χρόνους ὁλοσχερῶς ὥρμησαν ἐπὶ τὸ μιμηταὶ γενέσθαι τῆς πολιτείας αὐτῶν. [6] παρακαλέσαντες γὰρ σφᾶς καὶ συμφρονήσαντες Κροτωνιᾶται, Συβαρῖται, Καυλωνιᾶται, πρῶτον μὲν ἀπέδειξαν Διὸς Ὁμαρίου κοινὸν ἱερὸν καὶ τόπον, ἐν ᾧ τάς τε συνόδους καὶ τὰ διαβούλια συνετέλουν, δεύτερον τοὺς ἐθισμοὺς καὶ νόμους ἐκλαβόντες τοὺς τῶν Ἀχαιῶν ἐπεβάλοντο χρῆσθαι καὶ διοικεῖν κατὰ τούτους τὴν πολιτείαν. ὑπὸ δὲ τῆς Διονυσίου Συρακοσίου δυναστείας, [7] ἔτι δὲ τῆς τῶν περιοικούντων βαρβάρων ἐπικρατείας ἐμποδισθέντες οὐχ ἑκουσίως ἀλλὰ κατ᾽ ἀνάγκην αὐτῶν ἀπέστησαν. [8] μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Λακεδαιμονίων μὲν παραδόξως πταισάντων περὶ τὴν ἐν Λεύκτροις μάχην, Θηβαίων δ᾽ ἀνελπίστως ἀντιποιησαμένων τῆς τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἡγεμονίας, ἦν ἀκρισία περὶ πάντας μὲν τοὺς Ἕλληνας, μάλιστα δὲ περὶ τοὺς προειρημένους, ὡς ἂν τῶν μὲν μὴ συγχωρούντων ἡττῆσθαι, τῶν δὲ μὴ πιστευόντων ὅτι νενικήκασιν. [9] οὐ μὴν ἀλλά γε περὶ τῶν ἀμφισβητουμένων ἐπέτρεψαν Θηβαῖοι καὶ Λακεδαιμόνιοι μόνοις τῶν Ἑλλήνων Ἀχαιοῖς, οὐ πρὸς τὴν δύναμιν ἀποβλέ
ψαντες — [10] σχεδὸν γὰρ ἐλαχίστην τότε δὴ τῶν Ἑλλήνων εἶχον — τὸ δὲ πλεῖον εἰς τὴν πίστιν καὶ τὴν ὅλην καλοκἀγαθίαν. ὁμολογουμένως γὰρ δὴ τότε ταύτην περὶ αὐτῶν πάντες εἶχον τὴν δόξαν. [11] τότε μὲν οὖν ψιλῶς αὐτὰ τὰ κατὰ τὴν προαίρεσιν ὑπῆρχε παρ᾽ αὐτοῖς: ἀποτέλεσμα δ᾽ ἢ πρᾶξις ἀξιόλογος πρὸς αὔξησιν τῶν ἰδίων ἀνήκουσα πραγμάτων οὐκ ἐγίνετο, [12] τῷ μὴ δύνασθαι φῦναι προστάτην ἄξιον τῆς προαιρέσεως, ἀεὶ δὲ τὸν ὑποδείξαντα ποτὲ μὲν ὑπὸ τῆς Λακεδαιμονίων ἀρχῆς ἐπισκοτεῖσθαι καὶ κωλύεσθαι, ποτὲ δὲ μᾶλλον ὑπὸ