HKB
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Often appears with: strategy and the aims of war · medusa · forms of government · fate, destiny, and necessity · conspiracy and assassination · zeus uranios · zeus lakedaimon · uncovering statue · truce and strategy · treaties, truces, and peacemaking · treason and sedition · torture at rhodes
Usually: narrative (6) · detachment (4) · curiosity (3) · betrayal (2) · sudden reversal of fortune (2) · skepticism (2) · wonder (2) · argument (1) · list or catalogue (1) · reflection (1)
“Accordingly, soon after the final defeat of Perseus by Aemilius Paulus in B.C. 168, and the consequent dismemberment of Macedonia, the Senate proceeded to execute its vengeance upon those citizens in every state in Greece who were believed to have been opposed to the Roman interests.” Polybius, The Histories of Polybius, Vol. 1 (of 2) · observation
“In B.C. 174 Perseus forced the Dolopes, who had appealed against him to Rome, to submit to his authority.” Polybius, The Histories of Polybius, Vol. 2 (of 2) · observation
“Therefore it was a matter of surprise that Deinon persuaded himself to cling to life and submit to so signal an exposure.” Polybius, The Histories of Polybius, Vol. 2 (of 2) · observation
“Cadmus, what means this? Where are thy feet? where are both thy shoulders and thy hands? where is thy color and thy form, and, while I speak, where all else besides?” Ovid, The Metamorphoses of Ovid, Books I-VII · vivid
“However, for the present, at the first burst of thoughtless enthusiasm, the people showed unmistakable signs of joy at the news, being delighted at the unlooked-for appearance of a champion able to cope with Rome.” Polybius, The Histories of Polybius, Vol. 2 (of 2) · insight
“For if any one had pulled them up and asked them plainly, in so many words, whether they wished such great power to fall to one man, and were desirous of trying the effect of an utterly irresponsible despotism, I presume that they would have promptly bethought themselves, recanted all they had said, and gone to the other extreme of feeling.” Polybius, The Histories of Polybius, Vol. 2 (of 2) · insight
In discussing siege policy, Montaigne weighs whether a governor should go out to parley, recounting Roman cases where deception and truce timing caused disasters, and concluding that modern rules treat parleys as especially dangerous.
WHETHER THE GOVERNOR OF A PLACE BESIEGED OUGHT HIMSELF TO GO OUT TO PARLEY Quintus Marcius, the Roman legate in the war against Perseus, King of Macedon, to gain time wherein to reinforce his army, set on foot some overtures of accommodation, with which the king being lulled asleep, concluded a truce for some days, by this means giving his enemy opportunity and leisure to recruit his forces, which was afterwards the…
Perseus brings Medusa’s head to Africa, where the blood makes serpents; he later shows the Gorgon to Atlas, who is terrified by an oracle and becomes a mountain.
The misfortunes of his family oblige Cadmus to leave Thebes, and to retire with his wife Hermione to Illyria, where they are changed into serpents. The son of Agenor knows not that his daughter and his little grandson are {now} Deities of the sea. Forced by sorrow, and a succession of calamities, and the prodigies which, many in number, he had beheld, the founder flies from his city, as though the {ill}-luck of the …
After two days cooling, Cellini uncovers the Perseus and Medusa heads, finds Medusa and Perseus heads excellent, but Perseus’s foot is unfinished except heel, which he attributes to heat and added pewter.
rules of art prescribe; also that I had been obliged to supplement the alloy with my pewter cups and platters, which no one else, I think, had ever done before. Having now ascertained how successfully my work had been accomplished, I lost no time in hurrying to Pisa, where I found the Duke. He gave me a most gracious reception, as did also the Duchess; and although the majordomo had informed them of the whole procee…
After Perseus’s defeat (168 BCE), the Roman Senate orders investigations and trials that exile or detain suspected Achaean and other Greek opponents until about 151 BCE; Polybius remains at Rome and tutors Scipio Aemilianus.
[Sidenote: B.C. 167.] Careful, however, as he had ever been to avoid giving just offence to Rome, he and his party had long been marked by the Senate as opponents of that more complete interference in the details of Achaean politics which it wished to exercise. This was partly owing to the machinations of Callicrates; but it was also the result of the deliberate policy of the Senate: and it was doubtless helped by t…
Polybius outlines how Perseus of Macedon escalated affairs from 174 to 171 BCE: forcing the Dolopes, maneuvering through Greece, influencing Aetolia and Thessaly, and prompting the Roman Senate to prepare for war.
_The events of the years B.C. 174, 173, 172, which gradually led up to the war with Perseus, to be described in the twenty-seventh book, were briefly these_:— In B.C. 174 Perseus forced the Dolopes, who had appealed against him to Rome, to submit to his authority. After this successful expedition he marched through Central and Northern Greece, visiting Delphi, where he stayed three days, Phthiotid Achaia, and Thessa…
Polybius explains popular Greek enthusiasm in support of Perseus despite ignorance of human nature, then describes a new missile weapon called the cestros, and character sketches of Cotys of the Odrysae and Ptolemy in Cyprus.
Cleitomachus, they say that such a revulsion of feeling came over the spectators, that Aristonicus in his turn was conquered more by the display of popular feeling than by Cleitomachus. +10.+ What happened in the case of Perseus in regard to the feeling of the multitude was very similar to this. For if any one had pulled them up and asked them plainly, in so many words, whether they wished such great power to fall t…
Polybius describes how Deinon and Polyaratus tried to stay alive by shifting allegiance, but their intercepted letters to/from Perseus were exposed and led to their disgrace after torture and confession.
states to transfer themselves to alliance with the king. The most conspicuous of such men were in Cos the two brothers Hippias and Diomedon, and in Rhodes Deinon and Polyaratus. +8.+ And it is impossible not to view the policy of these men with disapproval. To begin with, all their fellow-citizens were aware of everything they had done or said; in the next place, the letters were intercepted and made public which we…
Polybius links the “course of Macedonian history” to an apparently heaven-sent infatuation, noting Macedonians previously benefited from Roman favor yet suffered defeat and unexpected victories.
[Sidenote: rather than of their leaders.] +5.+ Accordingly after a short time they obtained assistance, and once more inhabited their country in security. For the compassion of foreigners is no small benefit to those who are unjustly dispossessed; since we often see that, with the change of feeling among the many, Fortune also changes; and even the conquerors themselves repent, and make good the disasters of those w…
Herodotus moves to Spartan constitutional matters, listing the royal rights: priesthoods to Zeus Lakedaimon and Zeus Uranios, control of war, precedence in expeditions, and a guard of chosen men.
both themselves were at variance, they say, with one another, though they were brothers, throughout the whole time of their lives, and their descendants also continued after the same manner. 53. This is the report given by the Lacedemonians alone of all the Hellenes; but this which follows I write in accordance with that which is reported by the Hellenes generally,--I mean that the names of these kings of the Dorian…