[Meaning] to throw oneself into danger. "Thinking it, as the poet says, a ruse, he decided in no way to gamble (everything) on dice or to take a risk with his forces; he stayed quietly in camp."[1]
And elsewhere: "the Carthaginians decided to gamble (everything) on dice and to take a risk."[2]
There is also a proverb: "let the die be cast."
*)ekkubeu/ein: r(iptei=n e(auto\n ei)s ki/ndunon. oi)sa/menos kata\ to\n poihth\n do/lon ei)=nai ou)damw=s e)/krinen e)kkubeu/ein ou)de\ paraba/llesqai toi=s o(/lois: h)=ge th\n h(suxi/an e)pi\ tw=| xa/raki. kai\ au)=qis: e)/doce toi=s *karxhdoni/ois e)kkubeu/ein kai\ paraba/llesqai. e)/sti de\ kai\ paroimi/a: *)erri/fqw ku/bos.
For the simple verb see
kappa 2591. The prefix
ek- here implies that the gamble is total, e.g. life or death in battle. For this concept, common in Greek, of gambling all on battle, see the proverbs "Let the die be cast (or, rather, tossed)" (
alpha 2310,
epsilon 3013,
kappa 2591,
kappa 2602) and "Triple six or just three dice" (
eta 635,
tau 934,
tau 1005), and the metaphor of "tossing danger (i.e. as if a die)" (
kappa 1633).
See generally Tosi (cited under
alpha 378) no.728.
[1] An approximation of
Polybius 3.94.4, on the Punic Wars, where Q. Fabius
Maximus Cunctator, the Roman general, ("he" in the first citation) falls for the ruse of the Carthaginian general Hannibal and allows the Carthaginian army to escape. Clearly
Polybius comments on the need for gambles in warfare (cf.
kappa 2601,
kappa 2602). "The poet" is, as usual,
Homer, and the reference is to
Odyssey 10.232.
[2] Quotation unidentifiable -- but probably (as Bernhardy proposed) modelled on the
Polybius passage: see preceding note.
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