Ῥῦμα
defence, protection; draw, that which is drawn
Translated by Ronald Allen21 Mar 2008Vetting: high7 revisions
Translation
[Meaning] guarding.1
"A miserable defence of a tower do they become." Meaning a worthless guarding of the city.2
"After shooting many arrows at once, the barbarians were sailing round by the Romans into a bow's draw[-range]."3
Eunapius [writes]: "some rock having been dragged away into a bow's draw[-range]."4 That is, [its] pull-back.
And elsewhere: "the mighty among them were fastening towing-lines, drawing them from their ships to the others, and the bridge was being held fast by the towing-lines."5
And elsewhere: "to these rafts they also bound more towing-lines, by which they intended that the towing boats would not allow [sc. the rafts] to be carried down the river, but by force holding them fast against the current, to have the whole contingent conveyed across the river."6 And elsewhere Polybius [writes]: "behind these [sc. ships] they positioned the horse-carriers, having put towing-lines from them to the ships in the third squadron."7 "They were towing the horse-carriers."8
"A miserable defence of a tower do they become." Meaning a worthless guarding of the city.2
"After shooting many arrows at once, the barbarians were sailing round by the Romans into a bow's draw[-range]."3
Eunapius [writes]: "some rock having been dragged away into a bow's draw[-range]."4 That is, [its] pull-back.
And elsewhere: "the mighty among them were fastening towing-lines, drawing them from their ships to the others, and the bridge was being held fast by the towing-lines."5
And elsewhere: "to these rafts they also bound more towing-lines, by which they intended that the towing boats would not allow [sc. the rafts] to be carried down the river, but by force holding them fast against the current, to have the whole contingent conveyed across the river."6 And elsewhere Polybius [writes]: "behind these [sc. ships] they positioned the horse-carriers, having put towing-lines from them to the ships in the third squadron."7 "They were towing the horse-carriers."8
Greek original · Adler’s text
Ῥῦμα· φυλακή. χαλεπὸν πύργου ῥῦμα πέλονται. ἀντὶ τοῦ εὐτελὴς πόλεως φυλακή. ἐς τόξου ῥῦμα περιέπλεον τοῖς Ῥωμαίοις οἱ βάρβαροι, πολλὰ ἅμα βέλη ἀφιέντες. Εὐνάπιος· πέτρα δέ τις ἀπεσπασμένη ἐς τόξου ῥῦμα. τουτέστιν ἕλκυσμα. καὶ αὖθις· κραταιῶς ἐκ τούτων ἀνῆπτον τὰ ῥύματα, λαμβάνοντες ἐκ τῶν κατ' ἄλληλα πλοίων, καὶ κατείχετο τὸ ζεῦγμα τοῖς ῥύμασι. καὶ αὖθις· ῥύματα δὲ καὶ πλείω ταῖς σχεδίαις ἐνῆψαν, οἷς ἔμελλον οἱ λέμβοι ῥυμουλκοῦντες οὐκ ἐάσειν φέρεσθαι κατὰ τοῦ ποταμοῦ, βίᾳ δὲ πρὸς τὸν ῥοῦν κατέχοντες παρακομιεῖσθαι τὸ ὅλον ἔργον κατὰ τοῦ ποταμοῦ. καὶ αὖθις Πολύβιος· ἐπὶ τούτοις ἐπέστησαν τὰς ἱππηγούς, ῥύματα δόντες ἐξ αὐτῶν ταῖς τοῦ τρίτου στόλου ναυσίν. ἐρυμούλκουν τὰς ἱππηγοὺς ναῦς.
Betacode
*(ru=ma: fulakh/. xalepo\n pu/rgou r(u=ma pe/lontai. a)nti\ tou= eu)telh\s po/lews fulakh/. e)s to/cou r(u=ma perie/pleon toi=s *(rwmai/ois oi( ba/rbaroi, polla\ a(/ma be/lh a)fie/ntes. *eu)na/pios: pe/tra de/ tis a)pespasme/nh e)s to/cou r(u=ma. toute/stin e(/lkusma. kai\ au)=qis: krataiw=s e)k tou/twn a)nh=pton ta\ r(u/mata, lamba/nontes e)k tw=n kat' a)/llhla ploi/wn, kai\ katei/xeto to\ zeu=gma toi=s r(u/masi. kai\ au)=qis: r(u/mata de\ kai\ plei/w tai=s sxedi/ais e)nh=yan, oi(=s e)/mellon oi( le/mboi r(umoulkou=ntes ou)k e)a/sein fe/resqai kata\ tou= potamou=, bi/a| de\ pro\s to\n r(ou=n kate/xontes parakomiei=sqai to\ o(/lon e)/rgon kata\ tou= potamou=. kai\ au)=qis *polu/bios: e)pi\ tou/tois e)pe/sthsan ta\s i(pphgou/s, r(u/mata do/ntes e)c au)tw=n tai=s tou= tri/tou sto/lou nausi/n. e)rumou/lkoun ta\s i(pphgou\s nau=s.
Notes (8)
- The headword, a neuter noun, has two senses, differentiated in LSJ s.v.
r(u=ma as (A) and (B). Both are illustrated here. - 1Hesychius provides this same gloss, s.v.
r(u=ma . ↩ - 2Quoted approximately from Sophocles, Ajax 159 (with scholion): the hero's sailors, comprising the chorus, define the fighting capabilities of small men without support from great ones (web address 1). ↩
- 3Arrian, Parthica fr. 58 (Roos, Flavivs Arrianvs, p. 241). Adler notes that Roos preferred
tou\s *(rwmai/ous ; the barbarians were sailing around the Romans (ibid., p. 241 note; Roos, Studia Arrianea, p. 47 note). Blockley includes this passage among his fragments, but allows that it is possibly not Eunapian (pp. 126-7, p. 150). The battle tactic of keepinge)s to/cou r(u=ma , again in the next passage quoted, entails staying within one's own bow-and-arrow range of a foe, within the protection of the bow-shot, yet safe from any return fire. ↩ - 4Eunapius fr. 93 FHG (4.54); Blockley, pp. 126-7. ↩
- 5Arrian, Parthica fr. 58 (Roos, p. 241). ↩
- 6Quoted approximately from Polybius 3.46.5 (web address 2), which describes Hannibal's (OCD(4) s.v. and alpha 2452) design of a dirt-covered raft-bridge for ferrying elephants across the Rhône River (218 BCE); cf. Walbank, p. 380. ↩
- 7An approximate quotation of Polybius 1.26.14 (web address 3), detailing Roman strategy against the Carthaginians in the huge naval battle (256 BCE) off Cape Ecnomus, near present-day Licata, Sicily (Barrington Atlas map 47 grid D4); Walbank, pp. 85-87. ↩
- 8Quoted approximately from Polybius 1.27.9 (web address 4). ↩
References
A.G. Roos, ed., Flavivs Arrianvs: Scripta Minora et Fragmenta, vol. II, (Leipzig 1967)
A.G. Roos, Studia Arrianea, (Leipzig 1912)
R.C. Blockley, The Fragmentary Classicising Historians of the Later Roman Empire: Eunapius, Olympiodorus, Priscus and Malchus, vol. II, (Liverpool 1983)
F.W. Walbank, A Historical Commentary on Polybius, vol. I, (Oxford, 1957)
A.G. Roos, Studia Arrianea, (Leipzig 1912)
R.C. Blockley, The Fragmentary Classicising Historians of the Later Roman Empire: Eunapius, Olympiodorus, Priscus and Malchus, vol. II, (Liverpool 1983)
F.W. Walbank, A Historical Commentary on Polybius, vol. I, (Oxford, 1957)
External resources
- Web address 1 perseus.tufts.edu
- Web address 2 perseus.tufts.edu
- Web address 3 perseus.tufts.edu
- Web address 4 perseus.tufts.edu
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Revision history7 revisions · last 17 Jan 2022
- tweaked links — Catharine Roth
- added map reference n.7, cosmetics — Ronald Allen
- coding — David Whitehead
- betacode cosmeticule — Catharine Roth
- Revised — David Whitehead
- Revised — David Whitehead
- tweaked headword and tr; modified primary note; another keyword; cosmetics — David Whitehead
- Translated — Ronald Allen