by Polybius
[1] οὗτοι μὲν οὖν τοιούτοις περιπεσόντες ἀτυχήμασι καὶ πάσας ἀπολέσαντες τὰς ἐν αὑτοῖς ἐλπίδας ἐπρέσβευον πρὸς τοὺς Αἰτωλοὺς καὶ τὸ τῶν Ἀχαιῶν ἔθνος, δεόμενοι μεθ᾽ ἱκετηρίας σφίσι βοηθεῖν. [2] οἱ δὲ κατελεήσαντες τὰς συμφορὰς αὐτῶν ὑπήκουσαν καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα παραβοηθοῦντες ἧκον εἰς Ἑλίκρανον. [3] οἱ δὲ τὴν Φοινίκην κατασχόντες τὸ μὲν πρῶτον, παραγενόμενοι μετὰ Σκερδιλαΐδου πρὸς τὸ χωρίον, παρεστρατοπέδευσαν τοῖς βεβοηθηκόσι, βουλόμενοι συμβαλεῖν. [4] δυσχρηστούμενοι δὲ διὰ τὰς δυσχωρίας τῶν τόπων, ἅμα δὲ καὶ προσπεσόντων παρὰ τῆς Τεύτας γραμμάτων, δι᾽ ὧν ᾤετο δεῖν αὐτοὺς τὴν ταχίστην εἰς οἶκον ἀναχωρεῖν διὰ τὸ τινὰς τῶν Ἰλλυριῶν ἀφεστηκέναι πρὸς τοὺς Δαρδανεῖς, [5] οὕτω λεηλατήσαντες τὴν Ἤπειρον ἀνοχὰς ἐποιήσαντο πρὸς τοὺς Ἠπειρώτας. [6] ἐν αἷς τὰ μὲν ἐλεύθερα σώματα καὶ τὴν πόλιν ἀπολυτρώσαντες αὐτοῖς, τὰ δὲ δουλικὰ καὶ τὴν λοιπὴν σκευὴν ἀναλαβόντες εἰς τοὺς λέμβους, οἱ μὲν ἀπέπλευσαν, οἱ δὲ περὶ τὸν Σκερδιλαΐδαν πεζῇ πάλιν ἀνεχώρησαν διὰ τῶν παρὰ τὴν Ἀντιγόνειαν στενῶν, [7] οὐ μικρὰν οὐδὲ τὴν τυχοῦσαν κατάπληξιν καὶ φόβον ἐνεργασάμενοι τοῖς τὰς παραλίας οἰκοῦσι τῶν Ἑλλήνων. [8] ἕκαστοι γὰρ θεωροῦντες τὴν ὀχυρωτάτην ἅμα καὶ δυνατωτάτην πόλιν τῶν ἐν Ἠπείρῳ παραλόγως οὕτως ἐξηνδραποδισμένην οὐκέτι περὶ τῶν ἀπὸ τῆς χώρας ἠγωνίων, καθάπερ ἐν τοῖς ἔμπροσθεν χρόνοις, ἀλλὰ περὶ σφῶν αὐτῶν καὶ τῶν πόλεων. [9] οἱ δ᾽ Ἠπειρῶται παραδόξως διασεσωσμένοι τοσοῦτον ἀπεῖχον τοῦ πειράζειν ἀμύνεσθαι τοὺς ἠδικηκότας ἢ χάριν ἀποδιδόναι τοῖς βοηθήσασιν ὥστε τοὐναντίον διαπρεσβευσάμενοι πρὸς τὴν Τεύταν συμμαχίαν ἔθεντο μετ᾽ Ἀκαρνάνων πρὸς τοὺς Ἰλλυριούς, [10] καθ᾽ ἣν ἐκείνοις μὲν κατὰ τοὺς ἑξῆς καιροὺς συνήργουν, τοῖς δ᾽ Ἀχαιοῖς καὶ τοῖς Αἰτωλοῖς ἀντέπραττον. [11] ἐξ ὧν ἐγένοντο καταφανεῖς ἀκρίτως μὲν κεχρημένοι τότε τοῖς εὐεργέταις, ἀφρόνως δ᾽ ἐξ ἀρχῆς βεβουλευμένοι περὶ τῶν καθ᾽ αὑτοὺς πραγ
6. Having met with this reverse, and having lost all the hopes which they had cherished, the Epirotes turned to the despatch of ambassadors to the Aetolians and Achaeans, earnestly begging for their assistance. Moved by pity for their misfortunes, these nations consented; and an army of relief sent out by them arrived at Helicranum. Meanwhile the Illyrians who had occupied Phoenice, having effected a junction with Scerdilaidas, advanced with him to this place, and, taking up a position opposite to this army of relief, wished at first to give it battle. But they were embarrassed by the unfavourable nature of the ground; and just then a despatch was received from Teuta, ordering their instant return, because certain Illyrians had revolted to the Dardani. Accordingly, after merely stopping to plunder Epirus, they made a truce with the inhabitants, by which they undertook to deliver up all freemen, and the city of Phoenice, for a fixed ransom. They then took the slaves they had captured and the rest of their booty to their galleys, and some of them sailed away; while those who were with Scerdilaidas retired by land through the pass at Antigoneia, after inspiring no small or ordinary terror in the minds of the Greeks who lived along the coast. For seeing the most securely placed and powerful city of Epirus thus unexpectedly reduced to slavery, they one and all began henceforth to feel anxious, not merely as in former times for their property in the open country, but for the safety of their own persons and cities.
The Epirotes were thus unexpectedly preserved: but so far from trying to retaliate on those who had wronged them, or expressing gratitude to those who had come to their relief, they sent ambassadors in conjunction with the Acarnanians to Queen Teuta, and made a treaty with the Illyrians, in virtue of which they engaged henceforth to co-operate with them and against the Achaean and Aetolian leagues. All which proceedings showed conclusively the levity of their conduct towards men who had stood their friends, as well as an originally short-sighted policy in regard to their own interests.
[1] μάτων. τὸ μὲν γὰρ ἀνθρώπους ὄντας παραλόγως περιπεσεῖν τινι τῶν δεινῶν οὐ τῶν παθόντων, τῆς τύχης δὲ καὶ τῶν πραξάντων ἐστὶν ἔγκλημα, [2] τὸ δ᾽ ἀκρίτως καὶ προφανῶς περιβαλεῖν αὑτοὺς ταῖς μεγίσταις συμφοραῖς ὁμολογούμενόν ἐστι τῶν πασχόντων ἁμάρτημα. [3] διὸ καὶ τοῖς μὲν ἐκ τύχης πταίουσιν ἔλεος ἕπεται μετὰ συγγνώμης καὶ ἐπικουρία, τοῖς δὲ διὰ τὴν αὑτῶν ἀβουλίαν ὄνειδος καὶ ἐπιτίμησις συνεξακολουθεῖ παρὰ τοῖς εὖ φρονοῦσιν. [4] ἃ δὴ καὶ τότε παρὰ τῶν Ἑλλήνων εἰκότως ἂν τοῖς Ἠπειρώταις ἀπηντήθη. [5] πρῶτον γὰρ τίς οὐκ ἂν τὴν κοινὴν περὶ Γαλατῶν φήμην ὑπιδόμενος εὐλαβηθείη τούτοις ἐγχειρίσαι πόλιν εὐδαίμονα καὶ πολλὰς ἀφορμὰς ἔχουσαν εἰς παρασπόνδησιν; [6] δεύτερον τίς οὐκ ἂν ἐφυλάξατο τὴν αὐτοῦ τοῦ συστήματος ἐκείνου προαίρεσιν; οἵ γε τὴν μὲν ἀρχὴν ἐξέπεσον ἐκ τῆς ἰδίας, συνδραμόντων ἐπ᾽ αὐτοὺς τῶν ὁμοεθνῶν διὰ τὸ παρασπονδῆσαι τοὺς αὑτῶν οἰκείους καὶ συγγενεῖς: [7] ὑποδεξαμένων γε μὴν αὐτοὺς Καρχηδονίων διὰ τὸ κατεπείγεσθαι πολέμῳ, τὸ μὲν πρῶτον γενομένης τινὸς ἀντιρρήσεως τοῖς στρατιώταις πρὸς τοὺς στρατηγοὺς ὑπὲρ ὀψωνίων ἐξ αὐτῆς ἐπεβάλοντο διαρπάζειν τὴν τῶν Ἀκραγαντίνων πόλιν, φυλακῆς χάριν εἰσαχθέντες εἰς αὐτήν, ὄντες τότε πλείους τῶν τρισχιλίων: [8] μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα παρεισαγαγόντων αὐτοὺς πάλιν εἰς Ἔρυκα τῆς αὐτῆς χρείας ἕνεκεν, πολιορκούντων τὴν πόλιν Ῥωμαίων, ἐπεχείρησαν μὲν καὶ τὴν πόλιν καὶ τοὺς συμπολιορκουμένους προδοῦναι: [9] τῆς δὲ πράξεως ταύτης ἀποτυχόντες ηὐτομόλησαν πρὸς τοὺς πολεμίους: παρ᾽ οἷς πιστευθέντες πάλιν ἐσύλησαν τὸ τῆς Ἀφροδίτης τῆς Ἐρυκίνης ἱερόν. [10] διὸ σαφῶς ἐπεγνωκότες Ῥωμαῖοι τὴν ἀσέβειαν αὐτῶν ἅμα τῷ διαλύσασθαι τὸν πρὸς Καρχηδονίους πόλεμον οὐδὲν ἐποιήσαντο προυργιαίτερον τοῦ παροπλίσαντας αὐτοὺς ἐμβαλεῖν εἰς πλοῖα καὶ τῆς Ἰτα
λίας πάσης ἐξορίστους καταστῆσαι. [11] οὓς Ἠπειρῶται τῆς δημοκρατίας καὶ τῶν νόμων φύλακας ποιησάμενοι καὶ τὴν εὐδαιμονεστάτην πόλιν ἐγχειρίσαντες, πῶς οὐκ ἂν εἰκότως φανείησαν αὐτοὶ τῶν συμπτωμάτων αὑτοῖς αἴτιοι γεγονότες; [12] περὶ μὲν οὖν τῆς Ἠπειρωτῶν ἀγνοίας καὶ περὶ τοῦ μηδέποτε δεῖν τοὺς εὖ φρονοῦντας ἰσχυροτέραν εἰσάγεσθαι φυλακὴν ἄλλως τε καὶ βαρβάρων, ἐπὶ
7. That men, in the infirmity of human nature, should fall into misfortunes which defy calculation, is the fault not of the sufferers but of Fortune, and of those who do the wrong; but that they should from mere levity, and with their eyes open, thrust themselves upon the most serious disasters is without dispute the fault of the victims themselves. Therefore it is that pity and sympathy and assistance await those whose failure is due to Fortune: reproach and rebuke from all men of sense those who have only their own folly to thank for it.
It is the latter that the Epirotes now richly deserved at the hands of the Greeks. For in the first place, who in his senses, knowing the common report as to the character of the Gauls, would not have hesitated to trust to them a city so rich, and offering so many opportunities for treason? And again, who would not have been on his guard against the bad character of this particular body of them? For they had originally been driven from their native country by an outburst of popular indignation at an act of treachery done by them to their own kinsfolk and relations. Then having been received by the Carthaginians, because of the exigencies of the war in which the latter were engaged, and being drafted into Agrigentum to garrison it (being at the time more than three thousand strong), they seized the opportunity of a dispute as to pay, arising between the soldiers and their generals, to plunder the city; and again being brought by the Carthaginians into Eryx to perform the same duty, they first endeavoured to betray the city and those who were shut up in it with them to the Romans who were besieging it; and when they failed in that treason, they deserted in a body to the enemy: whose trust they also betrayed by plundering the temple of Aphrodite in Eryx. Thoroughly convinced, therefore, of their abominable character, as soon as they had made peace with Carthage the Romans made it their first business to disarm them, put them on board ship, and forbid them ever to enter any part of Italy. These were the men whom the Epirotes made the protectors of their democracy and the guardians of their laws! To such men as these they entrusted their most wealthy city! How then can it be denied that they were the cause of their own misfortunes?
My object, in commenting on the blind folly of the Epirotes, is to point out that it is never wise to introduce a foreign garrison, especially of barbarians, which is too strong to be controlled.
[1] τοσοῦτον ἔκρινον ποιήσασθαι μνήμην. οἱ δ᾽ Ἰλλυριοὶ καὶ κατὰ τοὺς ἀνωτέρω μὲν χρόνους συνεχῶς ἠδίκουν τοὺς πλοϊζομένους ἀπ᾽ Ἰταλίας: [2] καθ᾽ οὓς δὲ καιροὺς περὶ τὴν Φοινίκην διέτριβον, καὶ πλείους ἀπὸ τοῦ στόλου χωριζόμενοι πολλοὺς τῶν Ἰταλικῶν ἐμπόρων ἔσθ᾽ οὓς μὲν ἐσύλησαν, οὓς δ᾽ ἀπέσφαξαν, οὐκ ὀλίγους δὲ καὶ ζωγρίᾳ τῶν ἁλισκομένων ἀνῆγον. [3] οἱ δὲ Ῥωμαῖοι παρακούοντες τὸν πρὸ τοῦ χρόνον τῶν ἐγκαλούντων τοῖς Ἰλλυριοῖς, τότε καὶ πλειόνων ἐπελθόντων ἐπὶ τὴν σύγκλητον, κατέστησαν πρεσβευτὰς εἰς τὴν Ἰλλυρίδα τοὺς ἐπίσκεψιν ποιησομένους περὶ τῶν προειρημένων Γάϊον καὶ Λεύκιον Κορογκανίους. [4] ἡ δὲ Τεύτα, καταπλευσάντων πρὸς αὐτὴν τῶν ἐκ τῆς Ἠπείρου λέμβων, καταπλαγεῖσα τὸ πλῆθος καὶ τὸ κάλλος τῆς ἀγομένης κατασκευῆς — πολὺ γὰρ ἡ Φοινίκη διέφερε τότε τῶν κατὰ τὴν Ἤπειρον πόλεων εὐδαιμονίᾳ — διπλασίως ἐπερρώσθη πρὸς τὴν κατὰ τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἀδικίαν. [5] οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ τότε μὲν ἐπέσχεν διὰ τὰς ἐγχωρίους ταραχάς, καταστησαμένη δὲ ταχέως τὰ κατὰ τοὺς ἀποστάντας Ἰλλυριοὺς ἐπολιόρκει τὴν Ἴσσαν διὰ τὸ ταύτην ἔτι μόνην ἀπειθεῖν αὐτῇ. [6] κατὰ δὲ τὸν καιρὸν τοῦτον κατέπλευσαν οἱ τῶν Ῥωμαίων πρέσβεις: καὶ δοθέντος αὐτοῖς καιροῦ πρὸς ἔντευξιν διελέγοντο περὶ τῶν εἰς αὐτοὺς γεγονότων ἀδικημάτων. [7] ἡ δὲ Τεύτα καθόλου μὲν παρ᾽ ὅλην τὴν κοινολογίαν ἀγερώχως καὶ λίαν ὑπερηφάνως αὐτῶν διήκουεν. [8] καταπαυσάντων δὲ τὸν λόγον, κοινῇ μὲν ἔφη πειρᾶσθαι φροντίζειν ἵνα μηδὲν ἀδίκημα γίνηται Ῥωμαίοις ἐξ Ἰλλυριῶν: ἰδίᾳ γε μὴν οὐ νόμιμον εἶναι τοῖς βασιλεῦσι κωλύειν Ἰλλυριοῖς τὰς κατὰ θάλατταν ὠφελείας. [9] ὁ δὲ νεώτερος τῶν πρεσβευτῶν δυσχεράνας ἐπὶ τοῖς εἰρημένοις ἐχρήσατο παρρησίᾳ καθηκούσῃ μέν, οὐδαμῶς δὲ πρὸς καιρόν. εἶπεν γὰρ ὅτι Ῥωμαίοις μέν, [10] ὦ Τεύτα, κάλλιστον ἔθος ἐστὶ τὰ κατ᾽ ἰδίαν ἀδικήματα κοινῇ μεταπορεύεσθαι καὶ βοηθεῖν τοῖς ἀδικουμένοις: [11] πειρασόμεθα δὴ θεοῦ βουλομένου σφόδρα καὶ ταχέως ἀναγκάσαι σε τὰ βασιλικὰ νόμιμα διορθώσασθαι πρὸς Ἰλλυριούς. [12] ἡ δὲ γυναικοθύμως καὶ ἀλογίστως δεξαμένη τὴν παρρησίαν ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον ἐξωργίσθη πρὸς τὸ ῥηθὲν ὡς ὀλιγωρήσασα τῶν παρ᾽ ἀνθρώποις ὡρισμένων δικαίων ἀποπλέουσιν αὐτοῖς ἐπαποστεῖλαί τινας τὸν παρρησιασάμενον τῶν πρέσβεων ἀποκτεῖναι. [13] προσπεσόντος δὲ τοῦ γεγονότος εἰς τὴν Ῥώμην, διοργισθέντες ἐπὶ τῇ παρανομίᾳ τῆς γυναικὸς εὐθέως περὶ παρασκευὴν ἐγίνοντο καὶ στρατόπεδα κατέγραφον καὶ στόλον συνήθροιζον.
8. To return to the Illyrians. From time immemorial they had oppressed and pillaged vessels sailing from Italy: and now while their fleet was engaged at Phoenice a considerable number of them, separating from the main body, committed acts of piracy on a number of Italian merchants: some they merely plundered, others they murdered, and a great many they carried off alive into captivity. Now, though complaints against the Illyrians had reached the Roman government in times past, they had always been neglected; but now when more and more persons approached the Senate on this subject, they appointed two ambassadors, Gaius and Lucius Coruncanius, to go to Illyricum and investigate the matter. But on the arrival of her galleys from Epirus, the enormous quantity and beauty of the spoils which they brought home (for Phoenice was by far the wealthiest city in Epirus at that time), so fired the imagination of Queen Teuta, that she was doubly eager to carry on the predatory warfare on the coasts of Greece. At the moment, however, she was stopped by the rebellion at home; but it had not taken her long to put down the revolt in Illyria, and she was engaged in besieging Issa, the last town which held out, when just at that very time the Roman ambassadors ar
rived. A time was fixed for their audience, and they proceeded to discuss the injuries which their citizens had sustained. Throughout the interview, however, Teuta listened with an insolent and disdainful air; and when they had finished their speech, she replied that she would endeavour to take care that no injury should be inflicted on Roman citizens by Illyrian officials; but that it was not the custom for the sovereigns of Illyria to hinder private persons from taking booty at sea. Angered by these words, the younger of the two ambassadors used a plainness of speech which, though thoroughly to the point, was rather ill-timed. “The Romans,” he said, “O Teuta, have a most excellent custom of using the State for the punishment of private wrongs and the redress of private grievances: and we will endeavour, God willing, before long to compel you to improve the relations between the sovereign and the subject in Illyria.” The queen received this plain speaking with womanish passion and unreasoning anger. So enraged was she at the speech that, in despite of the conventions universally observed among mankind, she despatched some men after the ambassadors, as they were sailing home, to kill the one who had used this plainness. Upon this being reported at Rome the people were highly incensed at the queen’s violation of the law of nations, and at once set about preparations for war, enrolling legions and collecting a fleet.