Polybius, Histories
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Book 25 - Chapter 6

1
<head lang="la">D. Olymp. 150, 4. Res Italiae</head><w lemma="%2A%28%2Foti">Ὅτι</w> <w lemma="h%28">ἡ</w> <w lemma="su%2Fgklhtos">σύγκλητος</w>, <w lemma="paragenome%2Fnwn">παραγενομένων</w> <w lemma="tw%3Dn">τῶν</w> <w lemma="e%29k">ἐκ</w> <w lemma="th%3Ds">τῆς</w> <w lemma="%2A%28ro%2Fdou">Ῥόδου</w> <w lemma="presbeutw%3Dn">πρεσβευτῶν</w>, <w lemma="diakou%2Fsasa">διακούσασα</w> <w lemma="tw%3Dn">τῶν</w> <w lemma="lo%2Fgwn">λόγων</w> <w lemma="u%28pere%2Fqeto">ὑπερέθετο</w> <w lemma="th%5Cn">τὴν</w> <w lemma="a%29po%2Fkrisin">ἀπόκρισιν</w>.
2
<w lemma="h%28ko%2Fntwn">ἡκόντων</w> <w lemma="de%5C">δὲ</w> <w lemma="tw%3Dn">τῶν</w> <w lemma="%2Adardani%2Fwn">Δαρδανίων</w> <w lemma="kai%5C">καὶ</w> <w lemma="peri%5C">περὶ</w> <w lemma="tou%3D">τοῦ</w> <w lemma="plh%2Fqous">πλήθους</w> <w lemma="tw%3Dn">τῶν</w> <w lemma="%2Abastarnw%3Dn">Βασταρνῶν</w> <w lemma="kai%5C">καὶ</w> <w lemma="peri%5C">περὶ</w> <w lemma="tou%3D">τοῦ</w> <w lemma="mege%2Fqous">μεγέθους</w> <w lemma="tw%3Dn">τῶν</w> <w lemma="a%29ndrw%3Dn">ἀνδρῶν</w> <w lemma="kai%5C">καὶ</w> <w lemma="th%3Ds">τῆς</w> <w lemma="e%29n">ἐν</w> <w lemma="toi%3Ds">τοῖς</w> <w lemma="kindu%2Fnois">κινδύνοις</w> <w lemma="to%2Flmhs">τόλμης</w> <w lemma="e%29chgoume%2Fnwn">ἐξηγουμένων</w>,
3
<w lemma="kai%5C">καὶ</w> <w lemma="diasafou%2Fntwn">διασαφούντων</w> <w lemma="peri%5C">περὶ</w> <w lemma="th%3Ds">τῆς</w> <w lemma="%2Aperse%2Fws">Περσέως</w> <w lemma="koinopragi%2Fas">κοινοπραγίας</w> <w lemma="kai%5C">καὶ</w> <w lemma="tw%3Dn">τῶν</w> <w lemma="%2Agalatw%3Dn">Γαλατῶν</w> <w lemma="kai%5C">καὶ</w> <w lemma="fasko%2Fntwn">φασκόντων</w> <w lemma="tou%3Dton">τοῦτον</w> <w lemma="a%29gwnia%3Dn">ἀγωνιᾶν</w> <w lemma="ma%3Dllon">μᾶλλον</w> <w lemma="h%29%5C">ἢ</w> <w lemma="tou%5Cs">τοὺς</w> <w lemma="%2Abasta%2Frnas">Βαστάρνας</w> <w lemma="kai%5C">καὶ</w> <w lemma="dia%5C">διὰ</w> <w lemma="tau%3Dta">ταῦτα</w> <w lemma="deome%2Fnwn">δεομένων</w> <w lemma="sfi%2Fsi">σφίσι</w> <w lemma="bohqei%3Dn">βοηθεῖν</w>,
4
<w lemma="paro%2Fntwn">παρόντων</w> <w lemma="de%5C">δὲ</w> <w lemma="kai%5C">καὶ</w> <w lemma="%2Aqettalw%3Dn">Θετταλῶν</w> <w lemma="kai%5C">καὶ</w> <w lemma="sunepimarturou%2Fntwn">συνεπιμαρτυρούντων</w> <w lemma="toi%3Ds">τοῖς</w> <w lemma="%2Adardani%2Fois">Δαρδανίοις</w> <w lemma="kai%5C">καὶ</w> <w lemma="parakalou%2Fntwn">παρακαλούντων</w> <w lemma="kai%5C">καὶ</w> <w lemma="tou%2Ftwn">τούτων</w> <w lemma="e%29pi%5C">ἐπὶ</w> <w lemma="th%5Cn">τὴν</w> <w lemma="boh%2Fqeian">βοήθειαν</w>,
5
<w lemma="e%29%2Fdoce">ἔδοξε</w> <w lemma="th%3D%7C">τῇ</w> <w lemma="sugklh%2Ftw%7C">συγκλήτῳ</w> <w lemma="pe%2Fmyai">πέμψαι</w> <w lemma="tina%5Cs">τινὰς</w> <w lemma="tou%5Cs">τοὺς</w> <w lemma="au%29to%2Fptas">αὐτόπτας</w> <w lemma="e%29some%2Fnous">ἐσομένους</w> <w lemma="tw%3Dn">τῶν</w> <w lemma="prosaggellome%2Fnwn">προσαγγελλομένων</w>.
6
<w lemma="kai%5C">καὶ</w> <w lemma="parauti%2Fka">παραυτίκα</w> <w lemma="katasth%2Fsantes">καταστήσαντες</w> <w lemma="%2Aau%29%3Dlon">Αὖλον</w> <w lemma="%2Aposto%2Fmion">Ποστόμιον</w> <w lemma="e%29cape%2Fsteilan">ἐξαπέστειλαν</w> <w lemma="kai%5C">καὶ</w> <w lemma="su%5Cn">σὺν</w> <w lemma="tou%2Ftw%7C">τούτῳ</w> <w lemma="tina%5Cs">τινὰς</w> <w lemma="tw%3Dn">τῶν</w> <w lemma="ne%2Fwn">νέων</w>.
<head>V. Affairs of Italy</head>The senate on the arrival of the envoys from <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Rhodes&groupId=931&placeId=1665">Rhodes</a> heard their arguments and deferred their own answer.
mission from the Dardanians now arrived, telling of the Bastarnae, their numbers, the huge size and the valour of their warriors,
and also pointing out that Perseus and the Galatians were in league with this tribe. They said they were much more afraid of him than of the Bastarnae, and they begged for aid.
Envoys from <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Thessaly&groupId=1028&placeId=1816">Thessaly</a> also arrived confirming the statement of the Dardanians, and begging too for help.
Upon this the senate decided to senate some commissioners to inquire on the spot as to the veracity of these assertions,
and at once appointed Aulus Postumius and some younger men.

Walbank Commentary

Overview
25.6.1 - 25.6.6
<p rend="Plain Text">Embassies to the Senate from <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Rhodes&groupId=931&placeId=1665">Rhodes</a>, the Dardanians, and the Thessalians (177/6)</p> <p rend="Plain Text">This excerpt follows 5. 1–5 in de legat. gent.; it is from res Italiae of Ol. 150, 4 = 177/6 (see pp. 21–22).</p>
Specifics
25.6.1 - 25.6.1
<p rend="Plain Text"> <emph rend="bold"><w lang="el-GR">διακούσασα τῶν λόγων</w>:</emph> presumably at the outset of the consular year A.U.C. 578 = 176, at the normal time for hearing embassies; Derow, Phoenix, 1973, 348–9, equates id. mart. A.U.C. 578 with 3 December 177 (Jul.). </p> <p rend="Plain Text"> <emph rend="bold"><w lang="el-GR">ὑπερέθετο τὴ ν ἀπόκρισιν</w>:</emph> whether it was later sent, and if so what <milestone unit="page" n="281">[281]</milestone> form it took, is not recorded; but the delay denotes Roman dissatisfaction with the Rhodian case. </p>
25.6.2 - 25.6.2
<p rend="Plain Text"> <emph rend="bold"><w lang="el-GR">τῶν Δαρδανίων</w>:</emph> on the Dardanians see ii. 6. 4 n. Before his death Philip had been negotiating a plan with the Bastarnians for their invasion and occupation of the Dardanians' territory (cf. 3. 1–10 n.). <emph rend="bold"><w lang="el-GR">τῶν Βασταρνῶν</w>:</emph> a Balkan people who had moved from the upper Vistula to settle on the Dnieper, Prut, Bug, and <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Danube&groupId=654&placeId=1195">Danube</a> estuary around 200; they were very primitive and ignorant of agriculture, cattle-rearing, and navigation (Plut. Aem. 12. 2). A Germanic people (cf. Strabo, vii. 3. 17, C. 306; Pliny, Nat. hist. iv. 100; Tac. Germ. 46. 1), they were often called Peucini by the Romans (cf. ILS, 1722, 'Nereus nat(ione) German (us) Peucennus'); but earlier authors, including P. and those deriving from him, regarded them as Celts; see Walbank, Philip, 236 n. 5 (with references); Launey, i. 418 n. 7. On Philip's plan to have them attack and oust the Dardanians see also xxii. 14. 12 n.; 30,000 under Clondicus had penetrated Dardania (Livy, xl. 58. 8) and it was probably this group that was troubling the Dardanians. See further Ihm, RE, 'Bastarnae', cols. 110–13; E. Petersen in H. Reinerth, Vorgeschichte der deutschen Stmme, iii (Leipzig, 1940), 867. </p>
25.6.3 - 25.6.3
<p rend="Plain Text"> <emph rend="bold"><w lang="el-GR">περὶ τῆς Περσέως κοινοπραγίας καὶ τῶν Γαλατῶν</w>:</emph> 'concerning the common action of Perseus and the Galatians' (not, as Paton, 'that Perseus and the Galatians were in league with this tribe'). P. is identifying the Bastarnians with the Galatians; cf. xxix. 9. 13; Diod. xxx. 19, <w lang="el-GR">ἐπιλέκτους Γαλάτας πεπερακέναι τὸν Ἴστρον</w>; Plut. Aem. 9. 4; Syll. 495 ll. 102, 108; cf. Reinach, BCH, 1910, 256–65, for the identification of the Galatians mentioned there as Bastarnians. </p>
25.6.5 - 25.6.5
<p rend="Plain Text"> <emph rend="bold"><w lang="el-GR">ἔδοξε . . . πέμψαι τινὰς τοὺς αὐτόπτας κτλ</w>:</emph> this embassy was evidently sent in spring 176; its return is recorded in Livy, xli. 19. 4 (following P.): 'et legati, qui missi ad res uidendas in Macedoniam erant, iam reuerterant et ab rege Perseo oratores, qui purgarent nec accitos ab eo Bastarnas nec auctore eo quicquam facere', which seems to refer to early in A.U.C. 579 = 175. Whether these Roman and Macedonian embassies are the two mentioned in App. Mac. 11. 1 (where the Romans visit the Bastarnae, not <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Macedonia&groupId=723&placeId=428">Macedonia</a>) has been much debated; cf. Reinach, BCH, 1910, 291 n. 1 (distinct); Meloni, Valore storico, 119–29 (distinct and following a non-Polybian tradition); Gabba, Riv. stor. it. 1956, 100–1 (identical; Polybian tradition); Bivona, <w lang="el-GR">ΚΩΚΑΛΟΣ</w>, 1957, 129–35 (distinct; Polybian). If Appian is describing these embassies, his account is much distorted. </p>
25.6.6 - 25.6.6
<p rend="Plain Text"> <emph rend="bold"><w lang="el-GR">Αὖλον Ποστόμιον</w>:</emph> A. Postumius Albinus (Luscus), cos. 180 (cf. Mnzer, RE, 'Postumius (46)', cols. 925–9); Broughton, MRR, i. 403, puts his embassy in 175 (corrected in Supplement to MRR, 51), but he was probably dispatched in 176, and returned either then or in 175 (when Livy mentions this: see previous note). He is probably the <milestone unit="page" n="282">[282]</milestone> Postumius known as duumuir aedi dedicandae from an inscription from the Largo Torre Argentina in <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Rome&groupId=935&placeId=1669">Rome</a> (ILLRP, 121; cf. F. Mnzer, Bull. Comm. Rom. 1939, 27–30; De Sanctis iv. 2. 1. 305) and known also from ILS, 4019 = CIL, i <emph rend="superscript">2</emph> . 804 = ILLRP, 281, a dedication to Verminus (which Mnzer connects with the plague which broke out among cattle in 175; Livy, xli. 21. 5, 21. 7). </p> <p rend="Plain Text"> <emph rend="bold"><w lang="el-GR">καὶ . . . τινὰς τῶν νέων</w>:</emph> since they were to visit wild parts (Mnzer, RE, 'Postumius (46)', col. 927); Livy, xli. 19. 4 (cf. 24. 6) mentions only <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Macedonia&groupId=723&placeId=428">Macedonia</a>, but <w lang="el-GR">αὐτόπτας</w> could include Dardania; and if App. Mac. 11. 1 refers to the same embassy (cf. § 5 n.) they also visited the Bastarnae. <milestone unit="page" n="283">[283]</milestone> </p>

Commentary