No CrossRef data available.
Article contents
IMPIOUS MISFORTUNE AND DIDACTIC DISCORD: THE MACEDONIAN XANTHIKA IN ANCIENT HISTORIOGRAPHY RECONSIDERED
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 31 October 2024
Abstract
The present article will reconsider the historiographical value played by the 182 bc Antigonid military ritual – known as Xanthika. Firstly, in order to appraise ancient historiographical adaptations and modern analytical shortcomings, this article will retrace extant ancient sources and, secondly, its current state-of-the-art. Thirdly, the original Polybian treatment will be discerned from its Livian adaptations, and historiographical distinctions will be proposed for each version. Fourthly, the Xanthika will be reconsidered as a key historiographical device through which Polybius coupled the Hellenic themes of Alexandrian legitimacy, deep-rooted tyrannical discord, and irreversible royal decadence within a larger narrative of the Roman ascendance towards world dominance.
- Type
- Research Article
- Information
- Copyright
- Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Classical Association
Footnotes
This article is part of Semillero Project SEM2024-04, Research Department of the Faculty of Education and Social Sciences at Universidad Andrés Bello: Civic Education and Political Resilience: The Hellenistic Gymnasium during Roman Conquest (2nd–1st centuries bce).
References
1 An issue thoroughly examined in Hatzopoulos, M. B. ‘Vies parallèles: Philippe V d'après Polybe et d'après ses propres écrits’ JS 2014.1 (2014), 99–120Google Scholar.
2 Plut. Alex. 31.1–2 (translation by Bernadotte Perrin): καί τις αὐτῷ φράζει τῶν ἑταίρων, ὡς δὴ γέλωτος ἄξιον πρᾶγμα, τοὺς ἀκολούθους παίζοντας εἰς δύο μέρη διῃρηκέναι σφᾶς αὐτούς, ὧν ἑκατέρου στρατηγὸν εἶναι καὶ ἡγεμόνα, τὸν μὲν Ἀλέξανδρον, τὸν δὲ Δαρεῖον ὑπ᾽ αὐτῶν προσαγορευόμενον: ἀρξαμένους δὲ βώλοις ἀκροβολίζεσθαι πρὸς ἀλλήλους, εἶτα πυγμαῖς, τέλος ἐκκεκαῦσθαι τῇ φιλονεικίᾳ καὶ μέχρι λίθων καὶ ξύλων, πολλοὺς καὶ δυσκαταπαύστους γεγονότας. ταῦτα ἀκούσας ἐκέλευσεν αὐτοὺς μονομαχῆσαι τοὺς ἡγεμόνας καὶ τὸν μὲν Ἀλέξανδρον αὐτὸς ὥπλισε, τὸν δὲ Δαρεῖον Φιλώτας.
3 Curtius 10.9.11.19 (translation by John Yardley): Macedonum reges ita lustrare soliti erant milites, ut discissae canis viscera ultimo in campo, in quem deduceretur exercitus, ab utraque abicerent parte, intra id spatium armati omnes starent, hinc equites, illinc phalanx.
4 On pre-Alexandrian origins, see Hatzopoulos, M., ‘Philippe II fondateur de la Mácedoine nouvelle’, REG 125.1 (2012), 48Google Scholar, and Mari, M., ‘Olympia, Daisia, Xandika. Note su tre feste “nazionali” macedoni e sulla loro eredità in epoca ellenistica’, in Lombardi, P., Mari, M., and Campanelli, S. (eds.), Come aurora. Lieve, preziosa. Ergastai e philoi a Gabriella Bevilacqua, Giornata di studi, Roma, 6 giugno 2012 (Rome, 2017), 149Google Scholar.
5 On Polybian source-material for these chapters by Livy, see H. Nissen, Kritische Untersuchungen über die Quellen der vierten und fünften Dekade des Livius (Berlin, 1863); J. Briscoe, A Commentary on Livy. Books 38–40 (Oxford, 2008), 425; H. Tränkle, Livius und Polybios (Stuttgart, 1977); H. Tränkle, ‘Livy and Polybius’, in J. D. Chaplin and C. S. Kraus (eds.), Livy (Oxford, 2009), 476–95; J. Briscoe, ‘Some Misunderstandings of Polybius in Livy’, in B. J. Gibson and T. Harrison (eds.), Polybius and His World: Essays in Memory of F. W. Walbank (Oxford, 2013), 117–24; A. Eckstein, ‘Livy, Polybius and the Greek East (Books 31–35)’, in B. Mineo (ed.), A Companion to Livy (Oxford, 2015), 407–22; and B. Gianluigi, ‘«Come Livio scrive, che non erra »’, RPL 22 (2019), 188–204.
6 Liv. 40.6.2–3 (translation by Evan T. Sage and Alfred C. Schlesinger): praeferuntur primo agmini arma insignia omnium ab ultima origine Macedoniae regum, deinde rex ipse cum liberis sequitur, proxima est regia cohors custodesque corporis, postremum agmen Macedonum cetera multitudo claudit. For the word insignia in Livy's Latin, Walsh's and Briscoe's reading as ‘notable arms’ is more suitable. See Briscoe (2008, n. 5), 426.
7 Diod. Sic. 18.60.6 (Translation by Robin Waterfield): διόπερ οἶμαι δεῖν ἐκ τῆς βασιλικῆς γάζης κατασκευάσαι χρυσοῦν θρόνον, ἐν ᾧ τεθέντος τοῦ διαδήματος καὶ σκήπτρου καὶ στεφάνου καὶ τῆς ἄλλης κατασκευῆς.
8 For example, in Diod. Sic. 19.22.1–3 and Ath. 5.201 c–d. See also R. Strootman, Courts and Elites in the Hellenistic Empires (Edinburgh, 2014), 248–63.
9 Liv. 40.6.6 (translation by Evan T. Sage and Alfred C. Schlesinger): regii iuvenes duces ei ludicro certamini dati; ceterum non imago fuit pugnae, sed tamquam de regno dimicaretur, ita concurrerunt, multaque vulnera rudibus facta, nec praeter ferrum quicquam defuit ad iustam belli speciem.
10 For example, in Liv. 40.5.13. On divine madness, see F. W. Walbank, ‘ΦΙΛΛΙΠΠΟΣ ΤΡΑΓΩΙΔΟΥΜΕΝΟΣ: A Polybian Experiment’, JHS 58 (1938), 55–68; F. Walbank, A Historical Commentary on Polybius. Volume III (Oxford, 1979), 233; B. Dreyer, ‘Frank Walbank's Philippos Tragoidoumenos’, in B. Gibson and T. Harrison (eds.), Polybius and his World. Essays in Memory of F. W. Walbank (Oxford, 2013); and M. B. Hatzopoulos, Ancient Macedonia (Berlin and Boston, 2020), 170–6.
11 Liv. 40.8 and 16.
12 On the relationship between king and army, see E. Carney, King and Court in Ancient Macedonia. Rivalry, Treason and Conspiracy (Swansea, 2015), 27–59.
13 M. P. Nilsson, Griechische feste von religiöser Bedeutung mit Ausschluss der attischen (Leipzig, 1906), 404–6; and W. Burkert, Homo Necans: Interpretationen altgriechischer Opferriten und Mythen (Berlin and New York, 1972), 65.
14 J. G. Frazer, Folklore in the Old Testament (London, 1918), 399–408.
15 A. Reinach, ‘Trophées macédoniens’, REG 26.118/119 (1913), 359.
16 Frazer (n. 14), 408–12; S. Eitrem, ‘A Purificatory Rite and Some Allied Rites De Passage’, SO 25.1 (1947), 14; O. Masson, ‘A propos d'un rituel hittite pour la lustration d'une armée: le rite de purification par le passage entre les deux parties d'une victime’, RHR 137.1 (1950), 20; W. K. Pritchett, The Greek State at War (Berkeley, Los Angeles and London, 1979), 196–202; and P. Christesen and S. C. Murray, ‘Macedonian Religion’, in J. Roisman and I. Worthington (eds.), A Companion to Ancient Macedonia (Malden, Oxford and Chichester, 2010), 440–1.
17 Plut. Quaest. Rom. 68 (translation by William Heinemann).
18 See n. 16.
19 Polyb. 23.10.1–3 (translated by W. R. Paton, revised by Frank W. Walbank and Christian Habicht): καθάπερ γὰρ ἂν εἰ δίκην ἡ τύχη βουλομένη λαβεῖν ἐν καιρῷ παρ᾽ αὐτοῦ πάντων τῶν ἀσεβημάτων καὶ παρανομημάτων ὧν εἰργάσατο κατὰ τὸν βίον, τότε παρέστησέ τινας ἐρινῦς καὶ ποινὰς καὶ προστροπαίους τῶν δι᾽ ἐκεῖνον ἠτυχηκότων: οἳ συνόντες αὐτῷ καὶ νύκτωρ καὶ μεθ᾽ ἡμέραν τοιαύτας ἔλαβον παρ᾽ αὐτοῦ τιμωρίας, ἕως οὗ τὸ ζῆν ἐξέλιπεν. On Polybius’ use of Tyche as historical pattern, see mainly P. Pédech, La méthode historique de Polybe (Paris, 1964), 331–54; F. W. Walbank, Polybius (London, 1972), 58–65; F. W. Walbank, ‘Fortune (tyche) in Polybius’, in J. Marincola (ed.), A Companion to Greek and Roman Historiography. Volume 2 (Oxford and Malden, 2007), 349–55; M. R. Guelfucci, ‘Polybe, la τύχη et la marche de l'Histoire’, in F. Frazier and D. Leâo (eds.), Tyche et Pronoia (Coimbra, 2010), 141–67; L. Hau, ‘Tyche in Polybius: Narrative Answers to a Philosophical Question’, Histos 5 (2011), 183–207; and J. Deininger, ‘Die Tyche in der pragmatischen Geschichtsschreibung des Polybios’, in V. Grieb and C. Koehn (eds.), Polybios und seine Historien (Stuttgart, 2013), 71–111.
20 Starting with P. V. M. Benecke, ‘The Fall of the Macedonian Monarchy’, in S. A. Cook, F. E. Adcock, and M. P. Charlesworth (eds.), The Cambridge Ancient History, Volume 3. Rome and the Mediterranean 218–133 BC (Cambridge, 1930), 254.
21 Walbank (1938, n. 10), 67. Also F. W. Walbank, Philip V of Macedon (Cambridge, 1940), 246.
22 For example, Pédech (n. 19), 132–4. The source has been alternately pointed out as a literary work, an anti-Macedonian Achaean leader, or, more likely, an exiled Macedonian member of Philip V or Perseus’ court. See R. von Scala, Die Studien des Polybios (Stuttgart, 1890), 269; Walbank (1938, n, 10), 65–6; F. W. Walbank, A Historical Commentary on Polybius. Volume 1 (Oxford, 1957), 33–4; P. Meloni, Perseo e la fine della monarchia macedone (Rome, 1953), 41–2; Pédech (n. 19), 132–3; E. S. Gruen, ‘The Last Years of Philip V’, GRBS 15 (1974), 224–5; and Dreyer (n. 10), 201–11.
23 Gruen (n. 22), 222–4. Also E. Nicholson, ‘Assessing and Assembling True Historiography: Polybios on Probability and Patterns’, in T. Blank and F. K. Maier (eds.), Die symphonischen Schwestern. Narrative Konstruktion von, Wahrheiten‘ in der nachklassischen Geschichtsschreibung (Stuttgart, 2018), 203. Later, Gruen adopted a harsher position, estimating Livy's rework as an utterly falsified and fantastic account of the events poorly reported earlier by Polybius; an exacerbated pro-Roman and pro-Demetrian pamphlet. See also E. Gruen, The Hellenistic World and the Coming of Rome (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1984), 402. More recently, in rescuing the undervalued historiographical qualities of this and other royal chapters in Polybius, see B. McGing, Polybius’ Histories (Oxford, 2010), 96: ‘a narrative of carefully contrived design’.
24 See specially E. Nicholson, ‘Philip V of Macedon, “Erômenos of the Greeks”: A Note and Reassessment’, Hermes 146.2 (2018), 203, and M. D'Agostini, The Rise of Philip V. Kingship and Rule in the Hellenistic World (Alessandria, 2020), 3–4.
25 A. Johner, La violence chez Tite-Live. Mythographie et historiographie (Strasbourg, 1996), 222–45, and Briscoe (2008, n. 5), 378–82. However, these elements might still partially survive in Livy's text: Liv. 40.10.1–2 (vengeful Tyche), 40.12.17 (Flamininus), and 40.15.6–7, 15.10 (tragic overtones).
26 Liv. 40.3.6 (translated by Evan T. Sage): ferox animus. See Walbank (1979, n. 10), 231.
27 Liv. 40.8.11–12 (translated by Evan T. Sage): detestatus exempla…meliora quoque exempla = Polyb. 23.11.4–5. To consider here Livy's emphasis on Roman cases merely as a Romano-centric addendum would be to ignore decisive evidence on Philip V's knowledge of Roman history and its value as virtuous examples for the Greek. See Liv. 40.5.7 and, most importantly, IG IX, 2 517 = Syll. 3 534, l.29–34.
28 Liv. 40.10.1 (translated by Evan T. Sage): et furias fraternas concita = Polyb. 23.10.2.
29 N. G. L. Hammond and F. W. Walbank, A History of Macedonia. Volume 3, 336–167 BC (Oxford, 1988), 471.
30 As proposed Gruen (n. 22), 2401.
31 On this point, both S. Lanciotti, ‘Il tiranno maledetto. Il modello dell' “exsecratio” nel racconto storico’, MD 10/11 (1983), 225, and Briscoe (2008, n. 5), 381, are in agreement. See also N. Miltsios, The Shaping of Narrative in Polybius (Berlin and Boston, 2013), 84–7 and 92–9.
32 See M. B. Hatzopoulos, Cultes et rites de passage en Macédoine (Paris, 1994); M. B. Hatzopoulos, Macedonian Institutions Under the Kings (Athens, 1996); N. G. L. Hammond, ‘The Continuity of Macedonian Institutions and the Macedonian Kingdoms of the Hellenistic Era’, Historia 49.2 (2000); M. B. Hatzopoulos, L'organisation de l'armée macédonienne sous les Antigonides. Problèmes anciens et documents nouveaux (Paris, 2001); A.-M. Guimier-Sorbets, M. B. Hatzopoulos, and Y. Morizot (eds.), Rois, Cités, Nécropoles. Institutions, rites et monuments en Macédoine (Athens, 2006); Hatzopoulos (n. 4); P. Juhel, Autour de l'infanterie d’élite macédonienne à l’époque du royaume antigonide: Cinq études militaires entre histoire, philologie et archéologie (Oxford, 2017); and K. Panagopoulo, The Early Antigonids. Coinage, Money, and the Economy (New York, 2020).
33 This ritual can also be read as the mark of a ‘weak’ dynastic power. See Hatzopoulos (n. 10), 103–16.
34 Known here by the name of diadromai. See Hatzopoulos (1994, n. 32), 90–1. See also Syll. 3 694, OGIS 339 and 764.
35 Hatzopoulos (1994, n. 32), 88–9.
36 There are five anecdotal mentions of this ‘army gathering’ (συνάγω, contraho) in springtime (primo vere, secundum vernum aequinoctium): in Edessa (Polyb. 5.97.1–3), Dion (Liv. 33.3.1–5), Pella (Liv. 40.6.1–7), Stoboi (Liv. 40.21.1), and Kyrrhos (Liv. 42.51.1).
37 On Hellenistic succession, see M. B. Hatzopoulos ‘Succession and Regency in Classical Macedonia’, Ancient Macedonia 4 (1986), 279–92; W. S. Greenwalt, ‘Polygamy and Succession in Argead Macedonia’, Arethusa 22 (1989), 19–43; D. Ogden, Polygamy, Prostitutes and Death. The Hellenistic Dynasties (London, 1999); A. Chaniotis, War in the Hellenistic World. A Social and Cultural History (Malden, Oxford, and Victoria, 2005), 57–7; Strootman (n. 8), 93–184; B. Chrubasik, Kings and Usurpers in the Seleukid Empire. The Men Who Would Be King (Oxford, 2016); S. Winder, ‘The Hands of Gods? Poison in the Hellenistic Court’, in A. Erskine, L. Llewellyn-Jones, and S. Wallace (eds.), The Hellenistic Court. Monarchic Power and Elite Society from Alexander to Cleopatra (Swansea, 2017), 373–407. A literary trope here is plausible: a dynastic quarrel to criticize a monarchical system of power and explain a drastic change in the fate of kingdoms. Cases like Xen. An. 1.1, Sall. Iug. 6.1–13.4 and Tac. Ann. 1.1 could be examples. However, without Livy's main source (Polybius’ account), it is impossible to retrace and assess an exact use and reuse of an eventual literary trope. See Johner (n. 25), 234–8; E. Buzzetti, Xenophon the Socratic Prince. The Argument of the Anabasis of Cyrus (New York, 2014), 39–43; and R. Ash, ‘Civilis rabies usque in exitium (Histories 3.80.2): Tacitus and the Evolving Trope of Republican Civil War During the Principate’, in C. Hjort Lange and F. Juliaan Vervaet (eds.) The Historiography of Late Republican Civil War (Leiden, 2019), 351–75.
38 Lanciotti (n. 31). On Briscoe's rebuttal, see Briscoe (2008, n. 5), 378–82.
39 Liv. 40.6.4 (translation by Evan T. Sage and Alfred Schlesinger): hic flore, fortunati patris matura suboles, si mens sana esset.
40 Liv. 40.7.7 (translation by William Heinemann): nihil occulti esse in intestina discordia potest. utraque domus speculatorum et proditorum plena erat. On the infrequent use of the historian's own voice when announcing his exempla, see J. D. Chaplin, Livy's Exemplary History (Oxford, 2000), 50.
41 J. C. Yardley, Justin and Pompeius Trogus. A Study of the Language of Justin's Epitome (Toronto, 2003), 55: ‘the formula is distinctively Livian’. See also Liv. 2.31.10 (discordiae intestinae), 2.44.7 (discordia intestina), 2.45.4 (intestinae discordiae), 4.58.2, 5.17.10, 9.20.5, and 26.41.22. On the role of discordia in Livy, see A. Vasaly, Livy's Political Philosophy. Power and Personality in Early Rome (Cambridge, 2015), 96–121; C. Balmaceda, Virtus Romana. Politics and Morality in the Roman Historians (Chapel Hill, 2017), 83–128; and S. B. Cosnett, Concordia and Discordia in Livy's Republic. Roman Politics in Ab urbe condita, Books 21–45 (Diss., King's College London, 2017).
42 Liv. 40.8.18, 10.1, 10.7, 11.7, 15.1, and 15.3. The strangling of Demetrius could be considered as a Livian emphasis on a sacrilegious and sordid act within a broader ideological theme of violence and political nature. See Johner (n. 25), 23–56. Criticized by J. Briscoe, ‘Review: La violence chez Tite-Live…’, Gnomon 73.1 (2001), 76–7.
43 R. Seager, ‘Polybius’ Distortions of the Roman Constitution: A Simpl(istic) Explanation’, in Gibson and Harrison, (n. 10), 247–54, and Johner (n. 25), 234–8. On Livy's audience, see n. 46.
44 Liv. 40.16.3 (translation by William Heinemann): haec vivo Philippo velut semina iacta sunt Macedonici belli, quod maxime cum Perseo gerendum erat.
45 Polyb. 23.10.16 (translated by W. R. Paton): καὶ διὰ ταῦτα τῆς ψυχῆς οἱονεὶ λυττώσης αὐτοῦ, καὶ τὸ κατὰ τοὺς υἱοὺς νεῖκος ἅμα τοῖς προειρημένοις ἐξεκαύθη, τῆς τύχης ὥσπερ ἐπίτηδες ἀναβιβαζούσης ἐπὶ σκηνὴν ἐν ἑνὶ καιρῷ τὰς τούτων συμφοράς.
46 On Livy's audience(s), see E. Gabba, ‘True History and False History in Classical Antiquity’, JRS 71 (1981), 52; A. Feldherr, Spectacle and Society in Livy's History (Berkeley and London, 1998), 37–50; Chaplin (n. 40), 50–72; D. S. Levene, ‘History, Metahistory, and Audience Response in Livy 45’, ClAnt 25.1 (2006), 73–108; M. Jaeger, Livy's Written Rome (Michigan, 2009), 27–8. On the effects of the Republican crisis in Livy's audience, see C. Moatti, Res publica. Histoire romaine de la chose publique (Paris, 2018), 71–131.
47 On the use of tragedy by Polybius, see J. Marincola ‘Polybius, Phylarchus and “Tragic History”: A Reconsideration’, in Gibson and Harrison (n. 10), 73–90. Curiously, in Marincola's assessment the Antigonid quarrel is omitted.
48 Polyb. 5.9.6 (translated by Evelyn S. Shuckburgh): καὶ μεγίστη δὴ καὶ παράστασις ἐπὶ τούτοις εἶχε τόν τε βασιλέα καὶ τοὺς περὶ αὐτὸν φίλους, ὡς δικαίως ταῦτα πράττοντας καὶ καθηκόντως, ἀμυνομένους τοῖς ὁμοίοις τὴν τῶν Αἰτωλῶν περὶ τὸ Δῖον ἀσέβειαν. ἐμοὶ δὲ τἀναντία δοκεῖ τούτων. Referred in same terms in Polyb. 11.7.2–3. On Philip V's character in Polybius’ Histories, see Nicholson (n. 24).
49 Polyb. 7.11.1–11.
50 Polyb. 15.22.3 (translated by author): καὶ κληρονομήσειν παρὰ πᾶσι τοῖς Ἕλλησι τὴν ἐπ᾽ ἀσεβείᾳ δόξαν.
51 Polyb. 16.1.2 (translation by W. R. Paton): τὸ πλεῖον τῆς ὀργῆς οὐκ εἰς τοὺς ἀνθρώπους, ἀλλ᾽ εἰς τοὺς θεοὺς διετίθετο.
52 Polyb. 23.10.4–10.
53 On Polybius and Hellenistic kingships, see McGing (n. 23), 95–128.
54 Liv. 40.8.8 (translation by William Heinemann): iam pridem quidem hanc procellam inminentem timebam, cum vultus inter vos minime fraternos cernerem, cum voces quasdam exaudirem.
55 Liv. 40.8.15–18 (translation by William Heinemann): neque vos illorum scelus similisque sceleri eventus deterrere a vaecordi discordia potuit, neque horum bona mens, bona fortuna ad sanitatem flectere…nihil cari, nihil sancti est.
56 Polyb. 5.104.10. Philip V could be understood here as an opsimath or ‘late-learner’. See A. Moreno-Leoni, ‘The Failure of the Aetolian Deditio as a Didactic Cultural Clash in the Histories of Polybius (20.9–10)’, Histos 8 (2014), 162.
57 Marincola (n. 47), 82.
58 Liv. 40.13.3–5 (translated by Evan T. Sage and Alfred C. Schlesinger): quid? dies qualis? quo lustrans exercitus…tum cum maxime in hostiam itineri nostro circumdatam intuens, parricidium, venena, gladios in comisationem praeparatos volutabam in animo, ut quibus aliis deinde sacris contaminatam omni scelere mentem expiarem?
59 Another inherited treat would be the inability to take firm decisions in critical moments, seen here in Philip's indecision and later throughout Perseus’ reign (for example in Liv. 44.6.1–16).
60 More recently, see McGing (n. 23), 32–4 and 97–117, J. Thornton, ‘Polibio e gli imperi (Filippo V, Cartagine e altri paradeigmata)’, DHA Suppl. 9 (2013), 134–43, and Hatzopoulos (n. 1), 99–120.
61 E. Nicholson, ‘Hellenic Romans and Barbaric Macedonians: Polybius on Hellenism and Changing Hegemonic Powers’, AHB 34.1–2 (2020), 38–74, and Nicholson (n. 24). On Polybius’ narrative patterns, see C. Champion, Cultural Politics in Polybius’ Histories (Berkeley, 2004), 105–22, and C. Champion, ‘Historiographic Patterns and Historical Obstacles in Polybius’ Histoires: Marcellus, Flamininus and the Mamertine Crisis’, in Gibson and Harrison, (n. 10), 143–57.
62 Nicholson (n. 61), 52. See also E. Nicholson, A Reassessment of Philip V of Macedon in Polybios’ Histories (Diss., Newcastle University, 2015), 225–9.
63 On using models of hegemony when studying Polybius’ historiography, see A. Moreno-Leoni, Entre Roma y el Mundo Griego. Memoria, autorrepresentación y didáctica del poder en las Historias de Polibio (Córdoba, 2017), 227–66.
64 Polyb. 7.11, 9.23.9, and 15.20.5–8.
65 Polyb. 15.20.5–8 (translated by W. R. Paton): ἐξ ὧν τίς οὐκ ἂν ἐμβλέψας οἷον εἰς κάτοπτρον εἰς τὴν συνθήκην ταύτην αὐτόπτης δόξειε γίνεσθαι τῆς πρὸς τοὺς θεοὺς ἀσεβείας καὶ τῆς πρὸς τοὺς ἀνθρώπους ὠμότητος, ἔτι δὲ τῆς ὑπερβαλλούσης πλεονεξίας τῶν προειρημένων βασιλέων…τὰς δὲ τούτων δυναστείας καὶ τοὺς διαδόχους τοὺς μὲν ἄρδην ἀναστάτους ἐποίησε καὶ πανωλέθρους, τοὺς δὲ μικροῦ δεῖν τοῖς αὐτοῖς περιέβαλε συμπτώμασι. See F. W. Walbank, A Historical Commentary on Polybius. Volume II (Oxford, 1967), 471–4.
66 Polyb. 6.7.6–7.
67 Polyb. 2.59.6 (translated by W. R. Paton): ταύτης δὲ μείζω κατηγορίαν ἢ πικροτέραν οὐδ᾽ ἂν εἰπεῖν ῥᾳδίως δύναιτ᾽ οὐδείς. αὐτὸ γὰρ τοὔνομα περιέχει τὴν ἀσεβεστάτην ἔμφασιν καὶ πάσας περιείληφε τὰς ἐν ἀνθρώποις ἀδικίας καὶ παρανομίας.
68 On the effects of banquets and drunkenness on the quality of decisions and ruling, see Liv. 36.11.1, 39.42.5 (= Plut. Flam. 18–19), and 44.22.7–9. On the political ramifications of the elite's hubristic behaviour during banquets, see for example M. Simonton, ‘Stability and Violence in Classical Greek Democracies and Oligarchies’, ClAnt 36.1 (2017), 72–4. On the Macedonian banqueting, see Carney (n. 12), 225–63.
69 Liv. 40.9.8 (translated by Evan T. Sage and Alfred C. Schlesinger): regnare utique vis. huic spei tuae obstat aetas mea, obstat gentium ius, obstat vetustus Macedoniae mos, obstat vero etiam patris iudicium. haec transcendere nisi per meum sanguinem non potes. omnia moliris et temptas.
70 Liv. 40.12.18 (translated by Evan T. Sage and Alfred C. Schlesinger): idem non Romanorum gratiam solum, sed Macedonum iudicia ac paene omnium deorum hominumque consensum conlegit.
71 Liv. 33.3.5, 40.21.1, and 42.51.1.
72 Liv. 40.24.1–8.
73 Curtius 10.9.19 (translation by John Yardley): Hoc bellorum civilium Macedonibus et omen et principium fuit.
74 On Polybius’ aristocratic audiences, see Pédech (n. 19), 566; Walbank (1972, n. 19), 3–6 and 84; D. Musti, ‘Polibio negli studi dell'ultimo ventennio (1950–1970)’, ANRW 1.2 (1972), 1128; S. Mohm, Untersuchungen zu den historiographischen Anschauungen des Polybios (Saarbrucken, 1977), 121–229; M. Dubuisson, Le latin de Polybe (Paris, 1985), 266–7; A. Eckstein, Moral Vision in the Histories of Polybius (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1995), 7 and 20; Champion (2004, n. 61), 7 and 96–8; P. Erdkamp, ‘Polybius II 24: Roman Manpower and Greek Propaganda’, AncSoc 38 (2008), 141; and Moreno-Leoni (n. 63), 39–56.
75 On its meaning, see Briscoe (2008, n. 5), 426.
76 Polyb. 5.9.7 (translated by W. R. Paton): εἰ δ᾽ ὀρθὸς ὁ λόγος, σκοπεῖν ἐν μέσῳ πάρεστι, χρωμένους οὐχ ἑτέροις τισίν, ἀλλὰ τοῖς ἐξ αὐτῆς τῆς οἰκίας ταύτης παραδείγμασιν. See F. Walbank, ‘Η ΤΩΝ ΟΛΩΝ ΕΛΠΙΣ and the Antigonids’, Ancient Macedonia 3 (1993), 1721–3; A. Eckstein, Rome Enters the Greek East. From Anarchy to Hierarchy in the Hellenistic Mediterranean, 230–170 (Oxford, 2008), 81–2; and Nicholson (n. 62), 217–25.
77 Polyb. 5.10.10 (translated by W. R. Paton): ὁ δ᾽ ἵνα μὲν καὶ συγγενὴς Ἀλεξάνδρου καὶ Φιλίππου φαίνηται μεγάλην ἐποιεῖτο παρ᾽ ὅλον τὸν βίον σπουδήν, ἵνα δὲ ζηλωτὴς οὐδὲ τὸν ἐλάχιστον ἔσχε λόγον. τοιγαροῦν τἀναντία τοῖς προειρημένοις ἀνδράσιν ἐπιτηδεύων τῆς ἐναντίας ἔτυχε παρὰ πᾶσι. For this claim in Polybius, see Walbank (n. 21), 548.
78 On Rome's alleged apogee, see Nicholson (n. 61), 63 and n. 90. See also Ferrary, J.-L., Phihellénisme et impérialisme. Aspects idéologiques de la conquête romaine du monde hellénistique (Rome, 1988), 547–72Google Scholar; Edmonson, J. C., ‘The Cultural Politics of Public Spectacle in Rome and the Greek East, 167–166 bce’, in Bergmann, B. and Kondoleon, C. (eds.), The Art of Ancient Spectacle (New Haven, 1999), 77–95Google Scholar; Erskine, A., ‘Hellenic Parades and Roman Triumphs’, in Spalinger, A. and Armstrong, J. (eds.), Rituals of Triumph in the Mediterranean World (Leiden, 2013), 37–55CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Brisson, P.-L., ‘Antiochos IV et les festivités de Daphnè: aspects de la politique séleucide sous l'unipolarité romaine’, REG 131.1 (2018), 422–6Google Scholar.