Polybius, Histories
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Book 21 - Chapter 1

1
<head lang="la">A. Olymp. 147, 2. I. Res Italiae</head><w lemma="%2A%28%2Foti">Ὅτι</w> <w lemma="kata%5C">κατὰ</w> <w lemma="to%5Cn">τὸν</w> <w lemma="kairo%5Cn">καιρὸν</w> <w lemma="tou%3Dton">τοῦτον</w> <w lemma="sune%2Fbh">συνέβη</w> <w lemma="kai%5C">καὶ</w> <w lemma="th%5Cn">τὴν</w> <w lemma="e%29k">ἐκ</w> <w lemma="th%3Ds">τῆς</w> <w lemma="%2A%28rw%2Fmhs">Ῥώμης</w> <w lemma="presbei%2Fan">πρεσβείαν</w>, <w lemma="h%28%5Cn">ἣν</w> <w lemma="a%29pe%2Fsteilan">ἀπέστειλαν</w> <w lemma="oi%28">οἱ</w> <w lemma="%2Alakedaimo%2Fnioi">Λακεδαιμόνιοι</w>, <w lemma="paragene%2Fsqai">παραγενέσθαι</w> <w lemma="dieyeusme%2Fnhn">διεψευσμένην</w> <w lemma="tw%3Dn">τῶν</w> <w lemma="e%29lpi%2Fdwn">ἐλπίδων</w>.
2
<w lemma="e%29pre%2Fsbeuon">ἐπρέσβευον</w> <w lemma="me%5Cn">μὲν</w> <w lemma="ga%5Cr">γὰρ</w> <w lemma="peri%5C">περὶ</w> <w lemma="tw%3Dn">τῶν</w> <w lemma="o%28mh%2Frwn">ὁμήρων</w> <w lemma="kai%5C">καὶ</w> <w lemma="tw%3Dn">τῶν</w> <w lemma="kwmw%3Dn:">κωμῶν·</w>
3
<w lemma="h%28">ἡ</w> <w lemma="de%5C">δὲ</w> <w lemma="su%2Fgklhtos">σύγκλητος</w> <w lemma="peri%5C">περὶ</w> <w lemma="me%5Cn">μὲν</w> <w lemma="tw%3Dn">τῶν</w> <w lemma="kwmw%3Dn">κωμῶν</w> <w lemma="e%29%2Ffhsen">ἔφησεν</w> <w lemma="e%29ntola%5Cs">ἐντολὰς</w> <w lemma="dw%2Fsein">δώσειν</w> <w lemma="toi%3Ds">τοῖς</w> <w lemma="par%27">παρ᾽</w> <w lemma="au%29tw%3Dn">αὐτῶν</w> <w lemma="a%29postellome%2Fnois">ἀποστελλομένοις</w> <w lemma="pre%2Fsbesin">πρέσβεσιν</w>, <w lemma="peri%5C">περὶ</w> <w lemma="de%5C">δὲ</w> <w lemma="tw%3Dn">τῶν</w> <w lemma="o%28mh%2Frwn">ὁμήρων</w> <w lemma="e%29%2Fti">ἔτι</w> <w lemma="bouleu%2Fsasqai">βουλεύσασθαι</w> <w lemma="qe%2Flein">θέλειν</w>.
4
<w lemma="peri%5C">περὶ</w> <w lemma="de%5C">δὲ</w> <w lemma="tw%3Dn">τῶν</w> <w lemma="fuga%2Fdwn">φυγάδων</w> <w lemma="tw%3Dn">τῶν</w> <w lemma="a%29rxai%2Fwn">ἀρχαίων</w> <w lemma="qauma%2Fzein">θαυμάζειν</w> <w lemma="e%29%2Ffhsan">ἔφησαν</w>, <w lemma="pw%3Ds">πῶς</w> <w lemma="ou%29">οὐ</w> <w lemma="kata%2Fgousin">κατάγουσιν</w> <w lemma="au%29tou%5Cs">αὐτοὺς</w> <w lemma="ei%29s">εἰς</w> <w lemma="th%5Cn">τὴν</w> <w lemma="oi%29kei%2Fan">οἰκείαν</w>, <w lemma="h%29leuqerwme%2Fnhs">ἠλευθερωμένης</w> <w lemma="th%3Ds">τῆς</w> <w lemma="%2Aspa%2Frths">Σπάρτης</w>. —
<head>Embassy from Sparta</head>AT this time also it happened that the embassy, which the<note anchored="yes" place="marg" id="note1">B. C. 190. Embassy from <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Sparta&groupId=660&placeId=1208">Sparta</a>, and the answer of the Roman Senate.</note>Lacedaemonians had sent to <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Rome&groupId=935&placeId=1669">Rome</a>, returned disappointed. The subject of their mission was the hostages and the villages. As to the villages the Senate answered that they would give instructions to envoys sent by themselves; and as to the hostages they desired to consider further. But as to the exiles of past times, they said that they wondered why they were not recalled, now that <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Sparta&groupId=660&placeId=1208">Sparta</a> had been freed from her tyrants. . . .

Walbank Commentary

Overview
21.1.1 - 21.1.4
<p rend="Plain Text">on the return of a Spartan embassy from <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Rome&groupId=935&placeId=1669">Rome</a>, should probably stand here; see above, p. 3.</p>
21.1.1 - 21.1.4
<p rend="Plain Text">Return of Spartan embassy from <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Rome&groupId=935&placeId=1669">Rome</a> (summer 191)</p> <p rend="Plain Text">Its position in the excerpts de legat. gent. would allow this passage to stand in either xx or xxi; but since, as is likely (above, p. 3), it is from res Graeciae, it must belong to Ol. 147, 1 = 192/1, and is best placed after xx. 12. 1–7. Errington, 286–7, who wishes to leave it here in book xxi, points out that embassies were normally heard at <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Rome&groupId=935&placeId=1669">Rome</a> in winter under the new consuls; but this rule is not invariable (cf. xxiv. 8–10, xxxii. 1. 4), and since P. mentions the Senate's reply in connection with the embassy's return, it is likely that he did not describe its reception in a general account of the hearing of embassies at <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Rome&groupId=935&placeId=1669">Rome</a>. Aymard (PR, 356–8 n. 1) correctly dates the embassy to summer 191; but his argument that after the Achaean assembly at Aegium in autumn 191 (Livy, xxxvi. 35. 7; Plut. Philop. 17. 4), at which Philopoemen resisted the demand of Acilius and Flamininus that the Spartan exiles should be restored, Philopoemen (as strategos, 191/0) would never have allowed the Spartans to send an embassy to <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Rome&groupId=935&placeId=1669">Rome</a>, is not cogent, since the Spartans may have acted without seeking Achaean authorization. Errington, 133, 286–7, moreover, argues convincingly that, as the Spartan demand for the restoration of the hostages ran counter to Achaean policy, there had evidently been a change of government at <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Sparta&groupId=660&placeId=1208">Sparta</a> since the offer of the gift to Philopoemen (xx. 12. 1–7). See, besides Aymard and Errington, Nissen, KU, 185; Bttner-Wobst, Phil. 1900, 564 ff.; Lehmann, 239 n. 193; <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Shimron&groupId=19&placeId=84">Shimron</a>, Late <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Sparta&groupId=660&placeId=1208">Sparta</a>, 104 n. 8 (accepting Errington's date for the embassy).</p>
Specifics
21.1.1 - 21.1.1
<p rend="Plain Text"> <emph rend="bold"><w lang="el-GR">κατὰ τὸν καιρὸν τοῦτον</w>:</emph> a loose transitional phrase referring to what preceded (now lost); the date is summer or early autumn 191 (see above). </p> <p rend="Plain Text"> <emph rend="bold"><w lang="el-GR">παραγενέσθαι</w>:</emph> sc. at <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Sparta&groupId=660&placeId=1208">Sparta</a>. </p>
21.1.2 - 21.1.2
<p rend="Plain Text"> <emph rend="bold"><w lang="el-GR">περὶ τῶν ὁμήρων καὶ τῶν κωμῶν</w>:</emph> under the peace terms of 195 Nabis handed over five hostages, named by Flamininus, including his son Armenas (Livy, xxxiv. 35. 11, 52. 9; below, 3. 4). The demand for their return implies a Spartan government well disposed towards Nabis and therefore a different one from that which offered Philopoemen a gift in 191 (xx. 12. 1–7; above 1 n.). The <w lang="el-GR">κῶμαι</w> will be the <milestone unit="page" n="88">[88]</milestone> Laconicae orae castella et uici, handed over in fidem Achaeorum tutelamque under the peace of 195 (Livy, xxxviii. 31. 2; cf. Livy, xxxiv. 29. 1 for their seizure by Flamininus); see Schweighaeuser, vii. 418–19; Aymard, PR, 331 n. 2. They had not been restored to <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Sparta&groupId=660&placeId=1208">Sparta</a> when she joined the Achaean Confederation. On the Spartan perioecic communities cf. ii. 65. 9 n.; Bölte, RE, '<a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Sparta&groupId=660&placeId=1208">Sparta</a>', cols. 1322–3. </p>
21.1.3 - 21.1.3
<p rend="Plain Text"> <emph rend="bold"><w lang="el-GR">τοῖς παρ᾿ αὐτῶν ἀποστελλομένοις πρέσβεσιν</w>:</emph> 'to the envoys sent by them'; the participle is timeless (cf. xiv. 1. 10, 1. 14, where <w lang="el-GR">οἱ ἀποστελλόμενοι</w> are 'the envoys'), cf. Schweighaeuser, vii. 417; Aymard, PR, 358 n. 1. Thus a decision about the perioecic towns was deferred, for there is no evidence that the question was raised at the Achaean synodos of autumn 191 (Livy, xxxvi. 35. 7; cf. Plut. Philop. 17. 4), as Schweighaeuser, loc. cit., suggests. </p> <p rend="Plain Text"> <emph rend="bold"><w lang="el-GR">περὶ δὲ τῶν ὁμήρων . . . θέλειν</w>:</emph> the hostages were returned the following winter (191/0); cf. 3. 4 n. Errington, 135, suggests that Flamininus influenced the decision. Their restoration would strengthen those at <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Sparta&groupId=660&placeId=1208">Sparta</a> who opposed the return of those exiled under Nabis; cf. Holleaux, CAH, viii. 236; tudes, v. 427. </p>
21.1.4 - 21.1.4
<p rend="Plain Text"> <emph rend="bold"><w lang="el-GR">περὶ . . . τῶν φυγάδων τῶν ἀρχαίων</w>:</emph> <w lang="el-GR">ἀρχαίων</w> is Schweighaeuser's emendation of <w lang="el-GR">ἀχαιῶν</w> (cf. xxii. 1. 9, 11. 7, xxiii. 4. 2, 5. 18, 17. 10, 18. 2). The reference to <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Sparta&groupId=660&placeId=1208">Sparta</a> being now free shows that the 'old exiles' are those expelled by the 'tyrants', viz. Nabis (xiii. 6. 3; Paus. vii. 9. 2), and also Cleomenes, Lycurgus, and Machanidas; cf. Livy, xxxiv. 26. 12, 'exules permulti, tyrannorum iniuria pulsi, spe reciperandae patriae in castra Romana conuenerunt [i.e. against Nabis]. multi autem erant, iam per aliquot aetates, ex quo tyranni tenebant Lacedaemonem, alii ab aliis expulsi.' The phrase 'old exiles' implies that there were now 'new exiles'; and these were perhaps the leaders of the pro-Achaean party, among them Timolaus, who had lost power between the offer of the gift to Philopoemen (xx. 12. 1–7) and the sending of this embassy to <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Rome&groupId=935&placeId=1669">Rome</a> (Errington, 134; contra <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Shimron&groupId=19&placeId=84">Shimron</a>, Late <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Sparta&groupId=660&placeId=1208">Sparta</a>, 142–4). In the political climate Timolaus' party can hardly have been overthrown without also being exiled. <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Shimron&groupId=19&placeId=84">Shimron</a> (CQ, 1964, 238 n. 4) would restrict the term 'old exiles' to Cleomenes' victims, but this seems an unlikely distinction; and the 'new exiles' can hardly be the hostages sent to <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Rome&groupId=935&placeId=1669">Rome</a> by Nabis (<a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Shimron&groupId=19&placeId=84">Shimron</a>, Late <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Sparta&groupId=660&placeId=1208">Sparta</a>, 145 n. 23). At the Achaean synodos of autumn 191 'de Eleis et exulibus Lacedaemoniorum restituendis actum est' (Livy, xxxvi. 35. 7); but nothing was done, because the Achaeans wanted to have the credit for restoring the exiles themselves. <milestone unit="page" n="89">[89]</milestone> </p>

Commentary