[258] The pit is the place dug out (σκάμμα) and prepared in the gymnasium for leapers. To be in the pit is to be on the very ground of the struggle, without possibility of escaping it.
[260] For this proverb see Plutarch, Themist. 29; de Alex. Virt. 5; de Exil. 7.
[261] Plutarch reports the same anecdote much more briefly in Cato Maj. 12, as do others. Professor Freeman (History of Federal Government, p. 142) seems to regard it as a serious indication that the Amphictyonic council had become a body exercising some literary authority, in default of any other. I think that Cato had no such meaning. He mentioned any body of men, however unlikely to exercise such an influence, which at any rate was Greek.
[262] Seems to mean “he lost before he began,” before he got even at the threshold of his enterprise. There is nothing to show to what the fragment refers.
[263] The base of a statue of Polybius has been discovered at Olympia with the inscription ἡ πόλις ἡ τῶν Ἡλείων Πολύβιον Δυκόρτα Μεγαλοπολείτην. But the statue mentioned in the text seems to be one set up by the Achaeans. For the statues of Polybius, see Introduction, pp. xxxi. xxxii.
[264] Thebae quoque et Chalcis, quae auxilio fuerant, dirutae. Ipse L. Mummius abstinentissimum virum egit; nec quidquam ex iis opibus ornamentisque, quae praedives Corinthus habuit, in domum ejus pervenit. Livy, Ep. 52.
[265] Ptolemy Philometor, king of Egypt, is called, by way of distinction, “King of Syria,” because that title was bestowed on him by the people of Antioch during his last expedition in Syria. This was undertaken in support of Alexander Balas, who repaid him by conniving at an attempt upon his life. Whereupon Ptolemy joined Demetrius, the son of Demetrius Soter, and supported his claim against Alexander Balas. Joseph. Ant. 13, 3; 1 Maccabees 11, 1-13.
[266]: Dionysius Hal. (1, 74) quotes this statement of Polybius with the remark that it is founded on a single tablet in the custody of the Pontifices. Various calculations as to the date were:—
| Eratosthenes followed by |
| Olymp. 7, 1 | B.C. 752. |
| Apollodorus | |||
| Nepos | |||
| Dionysius | |||
| Lutatius | |||
| Q. Fabius Pictor | Olymp. 8, 1 | B.C. 748. | |
| Timaeus | 38th year before Olymp. 1 | B.C. 813. | |
| L. Cincius Alimantus | Olymp. 12, 4 | B.C. 729. | |
| M. Porcius Cato | 432 years after the Trojan war. | B.C. 752. | |
| Varro |
| Olymp. 6, 2 | B.C. 755. |
| Velleius Paterculus | |||
| Pomponius Atticus | Olymp. 6, 3 | B.C. 754. |
